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Variant, v. 1, issue 3, September 1947
Page 30
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This is the first installment of a serial article, entitled LIFE AND ITS ORIGIN by Armand E. Waldo Definition of life: I think it's best to begin this discussion by asking a very simple sounding question. "What is life?" Anyone endeavoring to write upon the subject is expected to be able to give some sort of an explanation of definition of his terms. Remember, however, as Clement Wood states, that "...nothing in the universe can be defined by limits; things can only be defined by centers." As cold is a degree of 'heat', good a degree of 'evil', life is a degree of lifelessness or 'death'. They merge into each other as decidedly as cold into hear or day into night. Thus, you see the impossible problem of strict definition. However, there have been attempts, "Life is the sum total of vital phenomena.", "Life is a state of dynamic equilibrium maintained in a unitary, semi-isolated system" or according to Spencer's so-called proximate definition, which of the many definitions of life has attracted the most attention, "Life is the continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations." It is clear, I think, that this last definition in its final analysis is but an overall assertion of the essential vital relations existing between living matter and lifeless pehnomena---between life and lifelessness. It is not a definition of life. However, apart from trys at building abstract concepts of life, there are some considerations, quite significant, regarding living matter, which are very important in the development of the knowledge between the living and lifeless. As you undoubtedly realize, the descriptive term 'living' denotes a whole series of properties representative of 'life units'. Therefore, I think, the most correct and scientific way of reaching a meaningful definition of life is thru the roundabout method of describing the characteristics or properties of living things which more or less sharply set them apart from lifelessness things. Since I have mentioned before, life is a degree of lifelessness, lifeless things may exhibit, to some extent or other, the same qualities that characterize living things. But, nothing lifeless every displays all of them at once, or any of them in so complex a form as does the living. What are these qualities? They are, as some biologists say: 1. Motility. The power of spontaneous mass motion. 2. Irritability. (Note: these two may, in the last analysis, be one.) There are characteristics in addition to the above two that should be listed. this list, while undoubtedly imcomplete, and in part shared by some lifeless materials is fairly comprehensive, and is as follows: 1. Living things exist as units of rather definite size and shape. 2. Each living unit is composed of numerous parts definitely organized in such a way that they are integrated into a whole. 3. Living matter is composed, to a great degree of highly complex chemical compounds that are not found in nature except in living unites & their products. (30)
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This is the first installment of a serial article, entitled LIFE AND ITS ORIGIN by Armand E. Waldo Definition of life: I think it's best to begin this discussion by asking a very simple sounding question. "What is life?" Anyone endeavoring to write upon the subject is expected to be able to give some sort of an explanation of definition of his terms. Remember, however, as Clement Wood states, that "...nothing in the universe can be defined by limits; things can only be defined by centers." As cold is a degree of 'heat', good a degree of 'evil', life is a degree of lifelessness or 'death'. They merge into each other as decidedly as cold into hear or day into night. Thus, you see the impossible problem of strict definition. However, there have been attempts, "Life is the sum total of vital phenomena.", "Life is a state of dynamic equilibrium maintained in a unitary, semi-isolated system" or according to Spencer's so-called proximate definition, which of the many definitions of life has attracted the most attention, "Life is the continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations." It is clear, I think, that this last definition in its final analysis is but an overall assertion of the essential vital relations existing between living matter and lifeless pehnomena---between life and lifelessness. It is not a definition of life. However, apart from trys at building abstract concepts of life, there are some considerations, quite significant, regarding living matter, which are very important in the development of the knowledge between the living and lifeless. As you undoubtedly realize, the descriptive term 'living' denotes a whole series of properties representative of 'life units'. Therefore, I think, the most correct and scientific way of reaching a meaningful definition of life is thru the roundabout method of describing the characteristics or properties of living things which more or less sharply set them apart from lifelessness things. Since I have mentioned before, life is a degree of lifelessness, lifeless things may exhibit, to some extent or other, the same qualities that characterize living things. But, nothing lifeless every displays all of them at once, or any of them in so complex a form as does the living. What are these qualities? They are, as some biologists say: 1. Motility. The power of spontaneous mass motion. 2. Irritability. (Note: these two may, in the last analysis, be one.) There are characteristics in addition to the above two that should be listed. this list, while undoubtedly imcomplete, and in part shared by some lifeless materials is fairly comprehensive, and is as follows: 1. Living things exist as units of rather definite size and shape. 2. Each living unit is composed of numerous parts definitely organized in such a way that they are integrated into a whole. 3. Living matter is composed, to a great degree of highly complex chemical compounds that are not found in nature except in living unites & their products. (30)
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