The Nature of Living Being : From Distinguishing Distinctions to Ethics

This book proposes a bold idea. Living beings are distinguishing distinctions. Single cells and multicellular organisms maintain themselves distinct by drawing distinctions. This is what organisms are and what they do. From this starting point, key issues examined range across ontology, epistemology, phenomenology, logic, and ethics. Topics discussed include the origin of life, the nature and purpose of biology, the relation between life and logic, the nature and limits of formal logic, the nature of subjects, the subject-object relation, subject-subject relationships and the deep roots of ethics. The book provides a radical new foundation to think about philosophy and biology and appeals to researchers and students in these fields. It powerfully debunks mechanical thinking about living beings and shows the vast reservoir of insights into aliveness available in the arts and humanities. The Nature of Living Being Introduction Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Distinction-Distinguishing The Proper Conjugate Form Inquiry Monkeys Monkeys as Philosophical Object Laura, First Night Sleeping with Her in Room 128 The Problem of Anthropomorphism Chapter 2: Distinguishing Distinctions Distinction: A/Ā, A=A Definitions of Distinction Abstract Definition: Distinction as Perfect Continence Chemotaxis Do Only Living Beings Distinguish? Establishing Bet Structure – ב Distinguishing as Scheme of Recurrence Nesting of Distinctions Repetition and Monkeys Chapter 3: ב and the Emergence of Living Being The First ב What Is Life? How Did Life Emerge? Autopoiesis Homeostasis, Growth, Decay Autopoiesis with or without Cognition I What Is an Itself? Liposomal Structures and Flow Autopoiesis With or Without Cognition II Nonliving Species ב and the Limitations of Narrow Darwinism Chapter 4: Empirical Evidence for ב Life Springs Emergent Probability Circadian Rhythms What Constitutes a Circadian Clock? Earliest Indication (EI) EI as Integrator-Operator Monkey EIs and Social Life Chapter 5: Formal Definition of Distinction Introduction The Axioms of Laws of Form Implicit Definition The Formalism of Laws of Form Lower and Upper Schemes: Living Being and Mathematics Living Beings: Joinings Foundations, and Proper and Borrowed Content of Distinction Louie and the Rope Chapter 6: The Mathematical Ideal and the Elision of the Subject Proper and Borrowed Content of @@L and @@A Value and Name Liminalism and Substantialism Naming as Integrator-Operator Insights and Their Expression Convergence of Platonism and Phenomenology I/World Chapter 7: Four Kinds of Things Things Different Kinds of Things Byproducts Products The Nonliving Joinings: Empirical Evidence in Biology Autonomous Cells Living Takes Place in Environments We Are Environments Endosymbiosis Major Evolutionary Transitions and Social Evolution Sexual Reproduction Chapter 8: [Subjects] Organisms as Objects and as [Subjects] Identity-Unity-Whole Skin and Membranes Mem-brains Identity-Unity-Whole and Unity-Identity-Whole Organisms and Organization Kate Opens a Door Charlie Jumping Chapter 9: Living Being Boundaries Microbial Partnerships Kinds of Wholes Liminality and Hymenomorphism Ethics Relationships Levinas’ Ethics and [Ethics] Chapter 10: The Paradoxical Nature of Aliveness Dis-eliding the Dynamics of Joinings The Paradox of Relationships Paradox in Groups Paradox of Dependency Paradox of Boundaries Paradox of Regression Paradox of Repetition Inner Conflict, Transparency/Opaqueness and the Unfolding of Anticipation The Structure of [Ethics] Returning Home A Final Monkey Story: How Charlie Became the Leader of the Group Postscript Appendix: Internal Critique of Laws of Form Glossary Bibliography Index