LIFE

Vitalism

Vitalism

Life forces are active in living organisms. These life forces are different from the mechanisms or physical forces explainable by the laws of chemistry and physics.

Vitalists

Vitalists believe that living organisms are different from nonliving things because they contain some non-physical element or they are governed by different principles than that of inanimate objects.

Theory behind Vitalism

That there is some force that makes living things alive A vital spark or energy, which some people call the soul.

Medical Philosophies

The most alternative healing practices believed that diseases are the result of an imbalance in the vital energies which distinguish living from non-living matter.

What does Judaism Say?

What do you think? Can you think of an example of a practice from which we can extrapolate the belief?

Practices

Fast burial

A belief that the soul cannot escape the body until it has been buried and as such should be done as quickly as possible

Views on abortion

We will discuss this more next week but there is a general view that until the baby has exited the womb it is not a life in the conventional sense

Modern Vitalism
A holistic approach to the cause and treatment of disease. Acupuncture Chiropractic Homeopathy Naturopathy

Vitalism in Cells
In the biology of a cell, Vitalism is a proposal which states that life is an emergent process Life cannot be described by simply understanding a number of chemical processes that occur in the cell.

The Acceptance of Vitalism

20th century scientists and historians often dismissed Vitalism as basically obsolete and even consider it unscientific. It is a theory to explain the circumstances in which no physical evidence can be provided.

Religion and Vitalism

If we think about the progression of religious beliefs regarding the precise role of a God in daily life we see an obvious pattern. As science advances the role of God becomes reduced in practical terms but more fundamental. An example of this is lightening: It was once a commonly held belief that God was literally throwing down lightening bolts from the heavens. With an advancement of scientific understanding of the phenomenom we now say that lightening is caused by: A massive electrostatic discharge between electrically charged regions within clouds, or between a cloud and the Earth's surface. The charged regions within the atmosphere temporarily equalize themselves through a lightning flash, commonly referred to as a strike if it hits an object on the ground. The role of God in this phenomena would be putting into place the fundamental laws which govern electricity or perhaps goes further back to the singularity and the big bang

Very Important!:
A

vitalistic approach does not necessarily require the assumption of beliefs consistent with a theistic teleology (it is not religion!) however, it does accommodate such beliefs

Mechanism

Early advocates of mechanistic ideas: Descartes and La Mettrie

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Speculative hypotheses about life functions

argued that life (except for human reason) could be explained in terms of purely physical mechanisms

Descartes Nerves and response

Hollow tubes filled with pure bodily fluids

Sense pain and respond by moving muscles based on idea of hydraulic systems

Automata

La Mettrie (1709-1751) wrote in Man, a Machine that all life, including human reason, was a mechanism

Some Early Steps Toward Mechanistic Explanations for the Special Characteristics of Life
cell theory (Schleiden & Schwann, 1840s) synthesis of organic molecules (1800s) fermentation reactions (1800s) spontaneous generation (mid 1800s)

The Cell Theory

Invention of the microscope (early 1600s)

All organisms are composed of cells that come from pre-existing cells

The cell as the building block of the whole organism

Organic Chemistry

19th century chemists discovered many compounds known only in living organisms (= organic compounds).

Organic Chemistry

Could these compounds only be formed in vivo (in life)?

Is there a unique, vitalistic chemistry of life?

in vitro synthesis of organic chemicals

In 1828 Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea in vitro (in the lab) from inorganic components

Eventually, chemists learned to synthesize everything in vitro that organisms synthesize in vivo

Spontaneous generation

People long believed in spontaneous generation of organisms from non-living matter.

Spontaneous Generation
(Redi - 1668) Spallanzani (1767)

The Pasteur-Pouchet Debate

Louis Pasteur (1822 1895)

Flix-Archimde Pouchet (1800 - 1872)

Further Tests on Spontaneous Generation

Flasks of organic material (milk, yeast water, hay infusions)

Boiled to destroy life

Steam drives air out

some flasks completely sealed to environment

some boiled less vigorously some capped loosely Only those completely sealed to outside microbe free Critics: vital forces cannot enter flasks

When air admitted

Mold grows

Why? Air contains vital substance that permits generation of new life Air contains living germs

Louis Pasteurs Swan-necked Flasks

 By 1920s 30s, almost universal rejection of vitalism

Vitalism leaves realm of science by falling back on unknown / unknowable factors

Use physical / chemical explanations for phenomena previously demanding vitalistic explanation

Biologists view of life today

All aspects of life will ultimately be explainable mechanistically, in terms of ordinary laws of physics and chemistry.

Requires modification of the mechanistic view cannot accept naive mechanistic explanation of 17th century [animals are nothing but machines]

Living organisms do have many characteristics that are unique

Characteristics of Life
Chemically complex and highly organized hierarchy of organization Atoms molecules macromolecules

organelles & membranes cells tissues organs organ-systems individual organisms populations community ecosystem Biome Biosphere

Use energy (metabolize)

Organize themselves (grow and develop)

Characteristics of Life

Reproduction (involves inheritance)

Single-celled organisms

Viruses

Cryptobiosis
Literally: hidden life
Life processes can be stopped and later re-started, so long as the necessary structures have been preserved.

Blurs the distinction between living and non-living

Tardigrades ability to withstand extremes:

Temperature

Pressure

Radiation

Dehydration
100 m

Tardigrades have been shown to survive nearly one decade in a dry state
100 m

(a) Hydrated tardigrade

(b) Dehydrated tardigrade

Mechanism/atomism (re: What is life?)

Life

can be completely explained by actions of physical, chemical, and electrical forces Derived from materialism and/or scientific exclusionism A reaction to antiscientific theological doctrines

Vitalism (re: What is life?)

Life and its functions depend on a vital influence which is non-physical in nature Derives from dualism Not necessarily a theological doctrine life= chemistry animated by spirit/force, etc.. Is an inclusive doctrine: matter/chemistry + the additional influence of a separate, non-physical entity or field

A little philosophy makes a man an atheist; a great deal turns him to religion.
Bacon

For next session

What are the implications of our understanding of life? When is something considered to be alive? How does this influence our views on abortion and euthenasia?