The Widget: The Definition Of Life

Life, it might be argued, is the distinguishing feature of all organisms and may most usefully be thought of as involving various kinds of complex systems of organization providing individual organisms with the ability to make use of those energy sources available to them for both self maintenance and reproduction. Underlying this deceptively persuasive definition, however, lie those persistent traditional problems inherent in the search for an essential, distinctive substance characteristic of all forms of life. Additionally, as evolution theory makes clear, there is the problem of borderline instances, organisms of which it is not easy to say whether or not they may be defined as being alive. One such case

Many individuals assume that reproduction and replication are similar. They believe this because both of these processes involve creating and using genetic information. Reproduction is the process in which a new living cell is made. This new living cell can also be called an offspring.

Life exists in itself - there is no inherent meaning attached to life. However - as all human beings (and animals) wish for

However, because the definition of life and where it starts can be considered unclear, two

Another set of medical arguments against abortion surround the definition of life and death. If the one set of criteria have been used to define death, could they also be used to define life? Death was once used to define that a human was no longer viable by the cessation of a heartbeat, so when the heart begins to beat, is that defined as the onset of life? The heart is formed by the eighteenth day in the womb. If the heartbeat was used to establish life, then nearly all abortions would be outlawed.

In his article “Indicators of Human hood”, Fletcher distinguishes the traits that comprises a living human. He proposes that what makes the essence of a man is not only his sense of time, futurity and past, but also his ability to relate to others, communicate and have the quality to change and balance rationality and emotion. Fletcher argues that it’s these qualities that contributes to the wholeness or “humanness” of a person. In contrary, the Webster Mediterranean dictionary argues that life is the quality that separates a functional and vital organism from a dead body. Based on this definition, life can be an organismic state that is capable for life- surviving functions, such as the capacity for growth and metabolism. That said, these two definitions of life are important when considering whether a dead-brain person is a functional human living or a dead body.

Abortion is defined as the expulsion of a fetus by a pregnant female before the normal end of a pregnancy. Many times and in most cases, specifically in the article titled “ABORTION” by Jimmyissmart on oppapers.com, abortion is seen as an act of violence and inhumane murder. It is mainly for this reason why people who are anti- abortion support their point of view. However, to murder the victim must first be alive, but what is the meaning of life? According to dictionary.com life is defined as the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, esp. metabolism, growth, reproduction and adaptation to environment. Hence, a fetus can not be alive because it lacks the ability to adapt to its environment, a fetus does not have

There are three types of asexual reproduction known as, budding, regeneration, and parthenogenesis. Budding is the production of new individuals that form from bodies of older animals. Regeneration can either replace a damaged tissue or form another individual. An example of regeneration is flatworms. Lastly, parthenogenesis is the development of the offspring from unfertilized eggs. An example of parthenogenesis is honey bees or ants. In the evolution of sex cells divide because it replaces cells that have aged and died. Another reason for why cells divide is because it replaces cells that are lost or damaged known as regeneration. In a cell division chromosomes are replicated and it is passed on to daughter cells. The number of chromosomes

Throughout time individuals have labeled entities as being “full of life” or being “lively”. People use life as an adjective in our language to describe their perspective, but is life an attribute? If so, then one thing can be more alive than another. This is a good argument to keep in mind when addressing Aristotle’s understanding of the hierarchy of living things, “Plants only have a vegetative soul, animals are above plants because they have appetites, humans are above animals because it has the power of reason.” (Aristotle). He states that there are all kinds of life forms, but some are greater than others. Humans obtain a

Alive, in the literal sense of existing primarily due to the series of biological processes that sustain one’s physical entity, but also alive in the metaphorical sense of being able to feel the rushing waters of one’s inner being caress one’s physicality in the manner of how the touch of the sea would linger on the

Reproduction is divided into two categories: Sexual and Asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction is the combination of two sex cells while asexual reproduction is the division of the cell into smaller genetically identical copies.Sexual reproduction is vital process of life. Although it has many advantages, it also has some disadvantages. “Life Ascending: The Ten Great Invention of Evolution” by Nick Lane, a British biochemist explains the path of evolution.This work received the Royal Society Prize for Science Books prize in 2010. The author has a PHD in biochemistry and was an honorary researcher for the University College London. This suggests that he is reliable as he has the highest possible qualification in his field, the PHD. The purpose of this critique is analyze the theories about the importance of sexual reproduction and the advantages and disadvantages of both forms of reproduction.

Asexual reproduction is a style of reproduction which offspring are formed by a single organism, and inherit the genes of one parent only; unlike sexual reproduction, which requires the genes from two parent organisms in order to create an offspring, asexual reproduction occurs when a single organism.

The two different types of reproduction are sexual and asexual reproduction. Types of asexual reproduction include binary fission, budding, and fragmentation. Budding is when another organism grows out of the parent cell, and separates once it’s fully developed. Fragmentation is when an organism splits into more pieces which each form into their own organism. Binary fission is when the parent cell copies its genetic material and then splits into two. The advantages of asexual reproduction are that it produces a lot of offspring, takes little energy, and is speedy. The disadvantage is that the offspring are clones.

Asexual reproduction is the creation of an offspring without using gametes. The offspring are clones of their parent and there is no genetic variation. This type of reproduction is common in fungi, bacteria and plants. It can occur in some animals though. Asexual reproduction involves mitosis to produce an identical daughter cell. It’s very common in unicellular organism because of the lack of reproductive organs, yet in a multicellular organism that offspring grows from a somatic cell.

Life is governed by cells, the basic unit. Life exists because of cells. Without cells, there is no life on earth.