The Nature of Life

Mark A. Bedau is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College, Oregon and a regular Visiting Professor at the European School of Molecular Medicine, in Milan, Italy. He is an internationally recognized leader in the philosophical and scientific study of living systems and has published and lectured extensively on issues concerning emergence, evolution, life, mind, and the social and ethical implications of creating life from nonliving materials. Carol E. Cleland is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado (Boulder). She is a central figure in the emerging science of astrobiology and has published in major science as well as philosophy journals. Her research focuses on issues in scientific methodology, historical science (especially earth and planetary science), biology (especially microbiology, origins of life, the nature of life, and astrobiology), and the theory of computation.

• Preface; Acknowledgments; Sources; About the authors; Introduction; Part I. Classical Discussions of Life: 1. De Anima (selections) Aristotle; 2. Treatise on Man René Descartes; 3. Critique of the Teleological Power of Judgment (selections) Immanuel Kant; 4. What is Life? (selections) Erwin Schrödinger; 5. The nature of life Alexander Oparin; 6. What is the meaning of 'life'? Ernst Mayr; 7. The Principles of Life (selections) Tibor Gánti; Part II. The Origin and Extent of Natural Life: 8. The origin of life: a review of facts and speculation Leslie E. Orgel; 9. Small molecule interactions were central to the origin of life Robert Shapiro; 10. Are the different hypotheses on the emergence of life as different as they seem? Iris Fry; 11. The universal nature of biochemistry Norman Pace; 12. Is there a common chemical model for life in the universe? Steven A. Benner, Alonso Ricardo and Matthew A. Carrigan; 13. Searching for life in the universe: lessons from Earth Kenneth H. Nealson; 14. The possibility of alternative microbial life on Earth Carol E. Cleland and Shelley D. Copley; 15. Introduction to the limits of organic life in planetary systems National Research Council of the National Academies; Part III. Artificial Life and Synthetic Biology: 16. Learning from functionalism: prospects for strong artificial life Elliott Sober; 17. Life, 'artificial life', and scientific explanation Marc Lange; 18. Alien life: how would we know? Margaret A. Boden; 19. Automatic design and manufacture of robotic life forms Hod Lipson and Jordan P. Pollack; 20. A giant step towards artificial life? David Deamer; 21. Approaches to semi-synthetic minimal cells: a review Pier Luigi Luisi, Francesca Ferri and Pasquale Stano; 22. Creating 'real life' Evelyn Fox Keller; Part IV. Defining and Explaining Life: 23. Definitions of life Carl Sagan; 24. The seven pillars of life Daniel E. Koshland; 25. A universal definition of life: autonomy and open-ended evolution Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo, Juli Pereto and Alvaro Moreno; 26. Does 'life' have a definition? Carol Cleland and Christopher Chyba; 27. Sentient symphony Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan; 28. Defining life Kim Sterelny and Paul Griffiths; 29. Universal Darwinism Richard Dawkins; 30. What is life? Was Schrödinger right? Stuart A. Kauffman; 31. Four puzzles about life Mark A. Bedau; Supplemental bibliography on life; Index.

'Editing a book of this kind always entails a risk because the particular professional interests and idiosyncrasies of the editors will affect the choice of contributions. However, I believe that the multifarious and matching interests of the editors were instrumental in producing an up-to-date and complete collection that will help the student of biology and philosophy alike. The editors did an outstanding job at devising an anthology that will be useful as a teaching instrument in a variety of classes in a variety of different disciplines. A marvellous book.' Metapsychology Online Reviews