ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction to potentiality and personhood, followed by a thought experiment. It is followed by a short discussion and then a series of questions. The issue of potential personhood is discussed within applied ethics. It is argued that what is wrong with destroying a fertilized human egg is that it is a potential person. However, philosophers have long been perplexed by this notion of potentiality. This is explained with the thought experiment where a potential is imagined as a chemical, which if given to a kitten will mean that when it grows into a cat it will have the same psychology as a normal adult human. The questions are intended to get the philosophy students thinking about the problems. They have used these kinds of questions in seminars as the questions set for seminars. The chapter also gives a cursory sketch of some of the ways in which philosophers have responded to the thought experiment.
