Kelly C. Smith and Carlos Mariscal (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190915650
- eISBN:
- 9780197506066
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190915650.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This book focuses on the emerging scientific discipline of astrobiology, exploring the humanistic issues of this multidisciplinary field. To be sure, there are myriad scientific questions that ...
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This book focuses on the emerging scientific discipline of astrobiology, exploring the humanistic issues of this multidisciplinary field. To be sure, there are myriad scientific questions that astrobiologists have only begun to address. However, this is not a purely scientific enterprise. More research on the broader social and conceptual aspects of astrobiology is needed. Just what are our ethical obligations toward different sorts of alien life? Should we attempt to communicate with life beyond our planet? What is “life” in the most general sense? The current volume addresses these questions by looking at different perspectives from philosophers, historians, theologians, social scientists, and legal scholars. It sets a benchmark for future work in astrobiology, giving readers the groundwork from which to base the continuous scholarship coming from this ever-growing scientific field.Less
This book focuses on the emerging scientific discipline of astrobiology, exploring the humanistic issues of this multidisciplinary field. To be sure, there are myriad scientific questions that astrobiologists have only begun to address. However, this is not a purely scientific enterprise. More research on the broader social and conceptual aspects of astrobiology is needed. Just what are our ethical obligations toward different sorts of alien life? Should we attempt to communicate with life beyond our planet? What is “life” in the most general sense? The current volume addresses these questions by looking at different perspectives from philosophers, historians, theologians, social scientists, and legal scholars. It sets a benchmark for future work in astrobiology, giving readers the groundwork from which to base the continuous scholarship coming from this ever-growing scientific field.
Emily C. Parke
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190915650
- eISBN:
- 9780197506066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190915650.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This chapter argues that the concept of “life” is used in several rather distinct ways: sometimes as an all-or-nothing phenomenon and other times as a matter of degree; sometimes referring to ...
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This chapter argues that the concept of “life” is used in several rather distinct ways: sometimes as an all-or-nothing phenomenon and other times as a matter of degree; sometimes referring to individual organisms and other times to communities; sometimes based on specific chemistries and other times on functions. In contrast to biologists in general, astrobiologists cannot take the status of their subject matter as living or nonliving for granted. There are at least two reasons to think astrobiologists need an understanding of what counts as life. The first is to set search criteria for finding “life as we don’t know it” in the universe. The second is to set success conditions conducive to agreement about when life has been found and when it has not. In addition to particular cases like the recent Mars finding by NASA, the meaning of “life” figures into a broader agenda in astrobiology: looking for biosignatures.Less
This chapter argues that the concept of “life” is used in several rather distinct ways: sometimes as an all-or-nothing phenomenon and other times as a matter of degree; sometimes referring to individual organisms and other times to communities; sometimes based on specific chemistries and other times on functions. In contrast to biologists in general, astrobiologists cannot take the status of their subject matter as living or nonliving for granted. There are at least two reasons to think astrobiologists need an understanding of what counts as life. The first is to set search criteria for finding “life as we don’t know it” in the universe. The second is to set success conditions conducive to agreement about when life has been found and when it has not. In addition to particular cases like the recent Mars finding by NASA, the meaning of “life” figures into a broader agenda in astrobiology: looking for biosignatures.
Cole Mathis
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190915650
- eISBN:
- 9780197506066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190915650.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This chapter draws inspiration from statistical physics to describe a statistical category that can be termed the “living state.” References to a living state can be found throughout origin of life ...
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This chapter draws inspiration from statistical physics to describe a statistical category that can be termed the “living state.” References to a living state can be found throughout origin of life and astrobiology science. Some researchers have used the concept of the living state to explicitly place biological phenomena within the epistemological scope of statistical physics. Within this framework, biological phenomena at a given scale of organization are explained and understood by appealing to the statistical properties of the dynamics of the smaller and larger scales. This is analogous to how distinct states of matter are understood by appealing to the statistical properties of atoms, with the important distinction that statistical physicists have historically not included constraints from larger levels of organization, which are essential in determining the properties of living systems. This conception of the living state may enable astrobiologists to integrate progress from different disciplinary perspectives into a quantitative theory of life.Less
This chapter draws inspiration from statistical physics to describe a statistical category that can be termed the “living state.” References to a living state can be found throughout origin of life and astrobiology science. Some researchers have used the concept of the living state to explicitly place biological phenomena within the epistemological scope of statistical physics. Within this framework, biological phenomena at a given scale of organization are explained and understood by appealing to the statistical properties of the dynamics of the smaller and larger scales. This is analogous to how distinct states of matter are understood by appealing to the statistical properties of atoms, with the important distinction that statistical physicists have historically not included constraints from larger levels of organization, which are essential in determining the properties of living systems. This conception of the living state may enable astrobiologists to integrate progress from different disciplinary perspectives into a quantitative theory of life.
