What is life? : scientific approaches and philosophical positions / editors, Hans-Peter Dürr, Fritz-Albert Popp, Wolfram Schommers.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The book of Erwin Schrodinger about life evokes a variety of basic questions concerning the understanding of life in terms of modern physics rather than biochemistry. Problems of organization and regulation of biological systems cannot be understood by revealing only the chemical processes of the living state. A group of reputable physicists - among them the followers of Heisenberg and Frohlich - and biologists came to this same conclusion though several workshops on this topic. This book contains their contributions, written from different viewpoints of theoretical physics and modern biology.

Foreword; List of Contributors; Chapter 1 All the Colors of a Rainbow in a Worm or: What is Life? Reinhard Eichelbeck; References; Chapter 2 Life -- A Problem Inherent in the Research Context Franz-Theo Gottwald; 1. Premeditations on Cognitive Logic and the Philosophy of Language; 2. Dependence of Life View Upon Explanations About "Life"; 3. Post-Materialistic Natural Science: Towards Holistic Research into Life; References; Chapter 3 Truth and Knowledge Wolfram Schommers; Can Life be Understood from Itself?; Result; Gods, Demigods and Moody Fairies; Knowledge and Truth.

Is Man Able to Recognize the Absolute Truth?Can Celestial Objects Solve Differential Equations?; Scientific Realism; Pictures of Reality; A transformed reality; The equations of motion describe the structures in the picture!; On the Mathematical Formulation; Summary and Final Remarks; References; Chapter 4 The Formative Powers of Developing Organisms Lev V. Beloussov; What Does it Mean to Explain Development?; Lessons from a Descriptive Embryology, with Some Discourse About Symmetry Theory; Lessons from Experimental Embryology: Regulation and Driesch's Law.

Developmental Variability: The Whole is More Precise Than Its PartsThe First Outlines of a Morphogenetic Field and an Excursion into Self-Organization Theory; Modern Versions of Morphogenetic Fields; What is Life from the Point of View of a Developing Embryo?; References; Chapter 5 Electromagnetic, Symbiotic and Informational Interactions in the Kingdom of Organisms Gunter M. Rothe; 1. Introduction; 2. Electric Fields in Biological Systems; 2.1. Electric fields in higher plants; 2.1.1. The pH-stat-system; 2.1.2. The proton motive force; 2.1.3. The energy charge.

2.1.4. Potassium channels and the generation of membrane potentials in plants2.1.5. Influence of electrical signals emerging from the roots on photosynthesis and transpiration of leaves; 2.1.6. Biophysical and biochemical reactions during wound healing; 2.2. The electrostatic field of men and women; 2.3. Healing electromagnetic fields; 2.4. The electromagnetic field as ordering principle; 3. The Symbiotic Origin of Eukaryota; 4. Blue Prints of Life; 5. Informative Fields; 6. Outlook; Acknowledgment; References; Chapter 6 Dead Molecules and the Live Organism Roeland Van Wijk; Introduction.

Manifestations of LifeProtoplasm, the Basic Living Substance; The Significance of Fluid Movements for Protoplasmic Life; Water and Protoplasmic Organization; Energy Mobilization in the Living Organization; Specific Proteins Protect Life; Concluding Remarks; References; Chapter 7 Inanimate and Animate Matter: Orderings of Immaterial Connectedness -- The Physical Basis of Life Hans-Peter Dürr; Overview; 1. Introductory Remarks; 2. Eddington's Parable; 3. The Opening of the Classical Framework by Modern Physics; 4. The Consequences of Modern Physics for the World We Know.

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