TY - JOUR
T1 - Definitions of life are not only unnecessary, but they can do harm to understanding.
AU - Hengeveld, R.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - In my response to the paper by Jagers op Akkerhuis, I object against giving definitions of life, since they bias anything that follows. As we don't know how life originated, authors characterise life using criteria derived from present-day properties, thus emphasising widely different ones, which gives bias to their further analysis. This makes their results dependent on their initial suppositions, which introduces circularity in their reasoning. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
AB - In my response to the paper by Jagers op Akkerhuis, I object against giving definitions of life, since they bias anything that follows. As we don't know how life originated, authors characterise life using criteria derived from present-day properties, thus emphasising widely different ones, which gives bias to their further analysis. This makes their results dependent on their initial suppositions, which introduces circularity in their reasoning. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
U2 - 10.1007/s10699-010-9208-5
DO - 10.1007/s10699-010-9208-5
M3 - Article
SN - 1233-1821
VL - 16
SP - 323
EP - 325
JO - Foundations of Science
JF - Foundations of Science
ER -
