
Can parts of a living entity be alive in their own right? - ubac
http://www.colinmcginn.net/the-concept-of-life/#.XsUyI5MzYWo
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ubac
'We may think we know what “life” is, or means, at a literal level. But, in
general, definitions of “life” boil down to oppositions between “life” and
“non-life” — circular arguments that never seek to specify the boundary
between the two. For example: If life exists in a given entity, can parts of
that entity be alive in their own right? “It would be wrong to say that the
molecules in an organism are living things, but it isn’t a stretch to say that
the gross organs that compose a body are themselves living things”'

