What is Life?

Approaches from the sciences, philosophy and theology, including the emerging field of astrobiology, can provide fresh perspectives to the age-old question 'what is life?'. Has the secret of life been unveiled and is it nothing more than physical chemistry? Modern philosophers will ask if we can even define life at all, as we still don't know much about its origins here on Earth. Others regard life as something that cannot simply be reduced to just physics and chemistry, while biologists emphasize the historical component intrinsic to life on Earth. How can theology constructively interpret scientific findings? Can it contribute constructively to scientific discussions? Written for a broad interdisciplinary audience, this probing volume discusses life, intelligence and more against the background of contemporary biology and the wider contexts of astrobiology and cosmology. It also considers the challenging implications for science and theology if extraterrestrial life is discovered in the future.

Introduction / Andreas Losch
1. Reflections on origins, life, and the origins of life / Marie-Christine Maurel
2. The search for another Earth-like planet and life elsewhere / Joshua Krissansen-Totton and David C. Catling
3. The shape of life: morphological signatures of ancient microbial life in rocks / Beda A. Hofmann
4. Precellular evolution and the origin of life: some notes on reductionism, complexity and historical contingency / Antonio Lazcano
5. Science and philosophy faced with the question of life in the twenty-first century / Michel Morange
6. What is life? And why is the question still open? / Claus Beisbart
7. Is the origin of life a fluke? Why the chance hypothesis should not be dismissed too quickly / Christian Weidemann
8. Some contemporary – and persistent – fallacies and confusions about astrobiology / Milan M. Cirkovic
9. Superintelligent AI and the postbiological cosmos approach / Susan Schneider
10. What theology can contribute to the question 'what is life?' / Andreas Losch
11. Autopoietic systems and the theology of creation: on the nature of life / Alexander Maßmann
12. Where there's life there's intelligence / Ted Peters
13. Life in the universe, incarnation and salvation / Juan Pablo Marrufo del Torro, SJ
14. Talking lions, intelligent aliens and knowing God – some epistemological reflections on a speculative issue / Taede A. Smedes
15. What is life? On Earth and beyond: conclusion / Andreas Losch
16. A skeptical afterword / Antonio Lazcano