Beyond Mechanism and Vitalism

This study in the philosophy of biology objects to achieve a more adequate understanding of the ordering of structures and processes in living natural bodies, whether unicellular or multicellular. In what way does their ordering differ from that of non-living natural bodies? (The word “bodies” is used in a wide sense: something that has physical existence and extension in space.) This question received a great deal of attention in the eighteenth century, but contemporary research also yields significant insights. Both are addressed in this study.
Attention to both mechanisms and purposiveness is necessary to gain understanding of living cells. Because we are familiar with the informational (semiotic) role of DNA in the living cell (for example, in the construction and use of nano engines by the cell), we can understand the connection between mechanisms and purposiveness better than eighteenth-century researchers.
The issue discussed in this study is particularly topical given current attempts to synthetically assemble living cells from “basic” components.