What are the characteristics of a living organism?

Biologists for generations have been asking this question but none have ever settled on a reasonable definition. Nevertheless two biologists in a book called "The Tree of Knowledge," by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, suggest that the uniqueness of a living organism lies in its ability to organise itself into a self contained unit.

The example given is of a chair. For something to be regarded as a chair it must have a flat portion to sit on, legs and a back and this is its organisation. It does not matter whether the chair is made of wood, plastic or that is put together with screws or glue: this is its structure but not its organisation.

They therefore define a living being as a unity in which its components are organized in such a way that they take part in the continual process of recreating that unit. That is to say, a living being is self-organising and self-producing. To convey this idea, Maturana and Varela use the term "autopoesis," derived from the Greek 'auto', meaning self, and 'poesis' meaning producing. The prime example of an autopoetic unity is the single cell. Thus, through organisation of its various components such as mitochondria, enzymes, a living cell is organised as an 'autopoetic' or self-organising unity. The maintenance of autopoesis defines the scope of activity of the cell and as soon as autopoesis breaks down the cell ceases to be living. Multi-cellular organisms are in the same way self-organising and autonomous that is they define their own principles of organisation. And since they are built from autopoetic cells it is this mechanism that defines what life is.

Such an autonomous unity will in the course of its life continually interact with the environment producing a series of mutual series of changes that maintain the integrity of the organism. What is important is that changes that the internal state of the organism goes through are determined only by its need to maintain self organisation. Since life according to the above definition is inherently "autopoetic" the mechanism by which this process is maintained, arguably must be through the agency of a vital force or field that maintains such unity in so complex an environment. Some might argue that it is impossible to remain "autopoetic" without an additional ingredient -a life force or vital-force which owes its ultimate origin to God. This being the ancient doctrine of Vitalism and an important tenet of Homoeopathic Philosophy. (But hard-headed Science has nothing to gain from such romantic revivalism, which A. Whitehead once called " misplaced concreteness".)

 DOES VITALISM EXPLAIN ALL?

More?

http://www.biolumanetics.net/tantalus/Homeopathy&Consciousness/vitalforcearcanideart.htm 

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