New paper on the role of definitions of life in synthetic biology
The definition of life is a notoriously difficult definition to get right. In response to that difficulty, some philosophers and scientists have argued that definitions of life are useless to the sciences. In this publication, one of our PhD students, Ludo Schoenmakers, argues against this pessimistic conclusion. He argues that if definitions of life are understood pragmatically, they can be, and in fact are, conducive to scientific progress and they are even relevant to our ethical discussions. So no reason for pessimism!
Congratulations to Ludo!
