DPhil Seminar (Wednesday - Week 4, MT26)

Abstract: Certain strands of contemporary scientific research into life – including the search for extraterrestrial life and investigation of the origin of life – harbour the ambition of a ‘neutral’ or ‘agnostic’ conception of life: developed on the basis of life on Earth, but applicable to life forms we could scarcely imagine. In this talk I will argue that this ambition cannot be met. Not only will our definition of life always grow out of our acquaintance with life; our application of that definition in particular cases – for example, detecting life or individuating life forms – will also always depend on our prior familiarity with life on Earth. This is because, I will argue, application of the criteria for life requires a prior choice of frame within which candidates for successful application are differentiated; and that prior choice of frame must be grounded in life as we know it. The upshot is that the search for extraterrestrial life and the earliest life forms cannot leave our recognitional capacities behind altogether. Either life is a perspectival concept, like visibility; or there will always be instances of life we could not recognise.

Registration: If you do not hold a university card, please contact the seminar convenor or admin@philosophy.ox.ac.uk at least two working days before a seminar to register your attendance.

See the DPhil Seminar website for details.

_{DPhil Seminar Convenor: Tom Heywood}