Abstract
Classical biology seeks to analyze living systems, their structures, functions and history. What is studied is not life directly, but the living entities through which life expresses itself. And this is in terms of functionalities of the living, which is a perfectly legitimate reduction in a scientific framework, as long as it is a conscious process which does not limit the view on living, and moreover on life, to functionalities. Synthetic biology, combined with nano-biotechnology, uses the discoveries of classical biology for the development of synthetic pieces of living material, and tries to reproduce the essential functions of life. Its goal is also to produce forms of living that nature itself has not yet produced. This vision of life is questionable, not only in philosophy (i.e. in terms of the classical distinction between functionality and experiences), at the epistemological level, but also in science itself, where the influence of experience on the functionalities of life starts to be investigated. For instance, in epigenetic phenomena, gene expression is influenced by the environment and by the behavior of the individuals carrying these genes; and also in brain plasticity, the development of synapses is affected by the practice of brain functions or by the re-education of these functions. These new findings suggest that life is a unity, at least at the physical, psychical and even spiritual levels for the human being. Respect for the living and for life must take into account this unity, which can also become a criterion for evaluating and discerning a “humanizing” use of nano-biotechnologies – for medical applications, for example.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Augustine. 1937. Confessions livres IX–XIII. Texte établi et traduit par Pierre de Labriolle. Tome II, deuxième édition revue et corrigée. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Baertschi, B. 2009. La vie artificielle. Berne: OFCL.
Bensaude-Vincent, B. 2009. Les vertiges de la technoscience. Paris: Editions de La Découverte.
Besnier, J.-M. 2009. Demain, les Posthumains. Paris: Hachette Littératures.
d’Aquin, Thomas. 2000. Somme contre les Gentils I, Dieu. Paris: Garnier-Flammarion.
D’Ornellas, P. 2010. Dignité et vulnérabilité. Doc. Episcopat, cef, N°6.
De Rosnay, J., and F. Papillon. 2010. Et l’homme créa la vie, La folle aventure des architectes et des bricoleurs du vivant. Paris: LLL.
Gibson, D.G. et al. 2010. Creation of a bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome. Science 329: 52–56. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5987/52.full.pdf . Accessed 6 Apr 2012.
Habermas, J. 2002. L’avenir de la nature humaine, vers un eugénisme libéral? Paris: Gallimard.
Henry, M. 1996. C’est moi la vérité. Paris: Seuil.
Jacob, F. 2000. Qu’est-ce que la vie? In Qu’est-ce que la vie? vol. 3, ed. Y. Michaud, 23–26. Paris: O. Jacob.
Jonas, H. [1979] 1997. Le Principe Responsabilité, Une éthique pour la civilisation technologique. Paris: Les éditions du Cerf.
Lacroix, X. 2007. De chair et de parole. Paris: Bayard.
Levinas, E. 1982. Ethique et Infini. Paris: Fayard.
Maestrutti, M. 2008. L’imaginaire du corps dans les nanotechnologies, entre mythe et utopie. In Bionano-éthique, ed. B. Bensaude-Vincent, R. Larrère, V. Nurock, and S. Loeve, 143–155. Paris: Vuibert. Chapter 9.
Magnin, T. 1998. Entre science et religion. Monaco: Le Rocher.
Magnin, T., and V. Grégoire-Delory. 2011. Réflexion d’un physicien sur la notion d’émergence appliquée à la relation corps-esprit. Connaître 35: 54–62.
Nordmann, A. 2004. Converging technologies. Shaping the future of European societies. Bruxelles: European Union High Level Expert Group.
Pichot, A. 1993. Histoire de la notion de vie. Paris: Gallimard.
Richard, A. (ed.). 2010. Le cerveau, comment il se réorganise sans cesse [special issue], Les dossiers de La Recherche, vol. 40. Paris: Sophia Publications.
Roco, M., and W. Bainbridge. 2002. NSF/DOC-sponsored report. Arlington.
Sicard, D. 2005. Le corps en pièces détachées. Enjeux scientifiques, économiques et philosophiques. Les Tribunes de la santé 6: 37–42.
Simondon, G. [1958] 2001. Du mode d’existence des objets techniques. Paris: Aubin.
Théobald C. 2010. Recherches de Science Religieuse. Dossier: La théologie de la nature en débat 98/2.
Zielinski, A. 2010. L’éthique du care. Etudes 4136: 631–641.
Zundel, M. 1947. Itinéraires. Paris: Ed La Colombe.
Zundel, M. 1998. Poème de la Sainte Liturgie. Paris: DDB.
Zundel, M. 2005. Pierres de Fondation. Paris: Anne Sigier.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Magnin, T., Revol, F. (2015). Life in Terms of Nano-biotechnologies. In: Evers, D., Fuller, M., Jackelén, A., Sæther, KW. (eds) Issues in Science and Theology: What is Life?. Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17407-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17407-5_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17406-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17407-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)