What could arsenic bacteria teach us about life?

Biology and Philosophy 28 (2):205-218 (2013)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the recent discovery of alleged arsenic bacteria in Mono Lake, California, and the ensuing debate in the scientific community about the validity and significance of these results. By situating this case in the broader context of projects that search for anomalous life forms, I examine the methodology and upshots of challenging biochemical constraints on living things. I distinguish between a narrower and a broader sense in which we might challenge or change our knowledge of life as the result of such a project, and discuss two different kinds of projects that differ in their potential to overhaul our knowledge of life. I argue that the arsenic bacteria case, while potentially illuminating, is the kind of constraint-challenging project that could not—in spite of what was said when it was presented to the public—change our knowledge of life in the deeper sense

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-09-07

Downloads
41 (#339,849)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Emily Parke
University of Auckland

Citations of this work

Bacterial communication.Marc Artiga - 2021 - Biology and Philosophy 36 (4):1-19.
Cybernetic analys of the phenomenon of life.Bielecki Andrzej - 2016 - Philosophical Problems in Science 61:133-164.

Add more citations