A Valid Theory of Life: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

What constitutes a valid theory of life? This paper opens a special issue of Organisms devoted to that question. It proposes criteria for evaluating competing definitions of life and establishes a critical framework for assessing claims about living and non-living objects. Mapping the intellectual terrain from Aristotelian and Cartesian causality to thermodynamics and contemporary information theory, the paper identifies recurring conceptual errors — above all, a covert dualism that persists across otherwise opposed positions — that theorists of life would do well to correct. It links these academic debates to practical challenges in ecology, medicine and technology, arguing that the question of life carries genuine civilizational urgency.