What is Life?

The place of the question "What is Life?" in biology is controversial. Some biologists consider that it has no place, whereas others consider that it is central. At the end of the 1960s, the question partially disappeared from the writings of biologists. It seemed that the question had been solved through the progresses accomplished in molecular biology, by the discovery of the genetic information present in all organisms. 

Forty years later, the question has reemerged, in part from the evidence that knowledge of genetic information is not sufficient to understand "What is life ?". The question has changed. Most extant biologists consider that the basic principles of life have been discovered. What remains to be explained is the complex path which led to the emergence of the first organisms: the question of life has become a question of history. 

In addition, the question of life is now clearly distinguished from the question of the emergence of cognitive abilities and consciousness. 



 About Prof. Michel Morange : 

Prof. Michel Morange is the author of major books in this field: History of molecular biology (La Découverte, 1994), The share of genes (Odile Jacob 1998), Life explained? (Odile Jacob, 2003), Secrets of life: against the single thought in biology (La Découverte, 2005), and What is the history of science? (Quae, 2008).