The Metaphysics of Life: From Leçons de Psychologie et de Métaphysique given at Clermont-Ferrand, 1887-88

Lesson 11
Various Conceptions of Life

Let's now rise now above matter per se, and let's inquire into what characterizes the living being. There are many theories on the nature, origin and essence of life; we will begin with the most simple, which denies that life is something sui generis, and which claims to reduce vital phenomena to physical and chemical facts like any others. First, there is one point upon which everyone agrees: vital phenomena present characteristics that seem so distinct from those of inert matter that we have invented a new name to distinguish them; thus nobody questions the appearance of phenomena sui generis. What are these phenomena? At first glance, what distinguishes the living body from brute matter is the presence of an apparent capacity to react against physical and chemical forces—a kind of initiative. A mere body [corps brut], left to itself, necessarily suffers the inevitable action of gravity, of heat, or of any other physical force. The phenomenon is entirely and absolutely determined in each identical situation by the conditions to which it is exposed; this can be foreseen with mathematical certainty and precision. But when we consider life itself in its imperfect, rudimentary state—even in those vegetables about which it cannot be said precisely if they are living or not living—new characteristics appear. Here we cannot foresee mathematically what will happen. Two seeds placed in the same ground and that present the same aspect to scientific observation will not behave in the same way. Even setting aside this point (which could in fact be contested), we will maintain that if two organized beings, although identical in appearance, do not develop in the same way, that is because certain conditions, which we cannot perceive with our means of observation, exist.

Let us set aside this first point and simply look at the growth or development of the living organism; we see a truly marvellous coordination of elements that together seem to tend toward a single goal, like the diverse functions of digestion, circulation and respiration that harmonize among themselves, each being a condition of the others. Not only is there harmony among them, but each of them is complex and presupposes the interplay of an endless number of organs that also agree among themselves. What complexity there is in a lung, for example, in the circulatory and digestive systems—and note that every organ is itself composed of tissues, every tissue of cells, and that while all these elements grow and multiply independently, they nevertheless harmonize in such a way as to constitute a single whole, a single organized being. The word [organized] is indicative of the thing, even if we descend into the depths of the tissues to consider the cell. Here is a being capable of developing, of nourishing itself and reproducing itself—a truly marvellous thing in the world of brute matter. Thus, only considering appearances, there is here a real initiative, a capacity opposed to the fatal and disorganizing action of physical and chemical laws. It is in this sense that the physiologist Bichat has said of life: "It is the assemblage [l'ensemble] of the forces that resist death." He means by this that no doubt the elements that enter into the human body are the same as those found in organic matter: O, H, C, AZ. Without doubt the simple elements are the same, and the proof of this is that after death, the body decomposes and liberates the simple elements that it has in common with non-organic matter. But during life, a special force is necessary, that fights against disorganization, and the proof of this is that when this force is no more, everything dissolves. Thus the definition given by Bichat corresponds to a spiritualist conception of matter.

Our life is a separate force, profoundly distinct from the so-called physical forces, which it continually resists, just as they always struggle against life. Our daily life is a struggle against the disorganization...