Do you know what Life is?

Everyone thinks they know what life is; it seems obvious and intuitive. We usually think about it in the biological sense: beings with a pulse or oxygen in the blood with dividing cells. However, there are strange middle ground forms of life that biology has trouble defining: for example, a hospital machine that keeps a heartbeat or a fire that can consume, grow, and spread fit different definitions. However, we seem certain that these things are not alive, so the biological checklist often doesn’t work. All it can really reveal to us is when matter functions properly, not when existence matters.

Maybe the problem is that we are trying too hard to define or categorize life with a checklist instead of the real depth and nuance behind the word. Science defines life as something with metabolism, the ability to reproduce and respond to stimuli, but philosophy asks more difficult questions. For example, does life require awareness? Does it begin with a sensation? Does it depend on meaning? An oak tree processes sunlight and breaks soil with quiet strength, but does it know it stands? A fetus at two weeks is alive biologically, but is it alive experientially? Does a human who sleeps in a deep coma still retain value? These type of questions are very difficult to navigate, which leads to diversions in all forms of academics.

A common opinion is that life begins at the first flicker of experience or some form of consciousness that can feel, something with a hunger to explore or avoid pain. A small bacterium can react to stimuli but can’t yearn like a human does.

Another frame to consider is to think of life as authorship or free will. Stars for example burn because they must, caterpillars turn into butterflies because of their biological forceful processes, but perhaps humans are the only beings that can choose largely divergent paths. We can choose to be poet or cynic, a believer or a skeptic etc. To live fully might mean the ability to choose.

There also seems to be resistance in life. For example, every organism pushes against decay; we repair our cells and fight diseases, we fight for warmth in the cold, and we seek purpose in the face of chaos and absurdity. Life could simply be the refusal to surrender to nothingness and to fight for survival.

However, it seems as life doesn’t exist within materialism; there seems to be almost a relational dimension where life thickens when it touchers others. A thought may exist by itself in the mind but when its shared and felt by someone else, it becomes stronger. It is almost as if we borrow life from each person in our lives who remembers us or mirrors something we do. We plant life in others when we cause change within them.