In this lecture, Professor Dupré takes up the quite recent realisation that we are not composed entirely or even mostly of “human” cells, but are hosts to trillions of microbial passengers. How should we think of these? Are they transitory passengers, or are they integral parts of us? If the latter, what does this say about how we determine the boundaries of the individual? Might this problem even extend to (some) viruses)? Professor Dupré shall also consider the status of a quite different fellow traveller, the foetus. Might this too be best seen not as a distinct individual, but as a (temporary) subprocess of the pregnant female? This topic will be further discussed in relation to the concept of personhood in the next lecture. He will conclude with some wider thoughts about the extraordinary sociality and interconnectedness of humans.

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