The DOI matches its Crossref record; 15 of the 17 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
About Various Definitions of Life
Abstract
The old question of a definition of minimal life is taken up again at the aim of providing a forum for an updated discussion. Briefly discussed are the reasons why such an attempt has previously encountered scepticism, and why such an attempt should be renewed at this stage of the inquiry on the origin of life. Then some of the definitions of life presently used are cited and briefly discussed, starting with the definition adopted by NASA as a general working definition. It is shown that this is too limited if one wishes to provide a broad encompassing definition, and some extensions of it are presented and discussed. Finally it is shown how the different definitions of life reflect the main schools of thought that presently dominate the field on the origin of life.
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“Our current understanding of life's origin suggests that there were intermediate states through which all forms of life must emerge (Fry, 1995; Luisi, 1998; Perry and Kolb, 2004).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Luisi, 1998
In the citing paper
“But while the Joyce (1994) definition gives us a useful way to identify candidate life-forms, it also requires that the life-form be verified by no less than clear evidence of evolution (Luisi, 1998; Cleland and Chyba, 2002).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Luisi, 1998
Citations
Cites
Autopoiesis: The organization of living systems, its characterization and a model
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Dyson, F. J. (1985) · Cited by 615
Oparin, A. I., & Morgulis, S. (1938) · Cited by 425
Margulis, L., & Sagan, D. (1995) · Cited by 243
Life : its nature, origin and development
Oparin, A. I. (1962) · Academic Press eBooks · Cited by 196
How long did it take for life to begin and evolve to cyanobacteria?
Lazcano, A., & Miller, S. L. (1994) · Journal of Molecular Evolution · doi:10.1007/bf00160399 · Cited by 135
The Origin of Life in the Solar System: Current Issues
Chyba, C. F., & McDonald, G. D. (1995) · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences · doi:10.1146/annurev.ea.23.050195.001243 · Cited by 132
The case for the chemoautotrophic origin of life in an iron-sulfur world
Wächtershäuser, G. (1990) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/bf01808279 · Cited by 112
Herrn Eugen Dühring's Umwälzung der Wissenschaft
Engels, F. (1877) · Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) · Cited by 80
Stein, W. D. (2018) · CRC Press eBooks · doi:10.1201/9780429492655 · Cited by 66
Chemistry and the Origin of Life
Eschenmoser, A., & Kisakürek, M. V. (1996) · Helvetica Chimica Acta · doi:10.1002/hlca.19960790503 · Cited by 63
Allgemeine Anatomie der Organismen
Haeckel, E. (1866) · De Gruyter eBooks · doi:10.1515/9783111628790 · Cited by 54
Current Theories on the Origin of Life
Horowitz, N. H., & Miller, S. L. (1962) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-7153-0_10 · Cited by 32
Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 17 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Bernal, J. D.: 1965, in T. Waterman and H. J. Morowitz (eds.), Theoretical and Mathematical Biology, Blaisdell.
- Joyce, J.: 1994, in D. W. Deamer and G. R. Fleischaker (eds.), the foreword of ‘Origins of Life: The Central Concepts’, Jones and Bartlett, Boston. The original reference is a 1992 internal NASA document entitled ‘Exobiology: Discipline Science Plan'. I thank G. Joyce for this information.
- Lovelock, J. E.: 1979, ‘A New Look on Life on Earth’, Oxford University Press; (b) and 1998, 'The Ages of Gaia', Norton.
- Luisi, P. L., 1994, in G. Fleischacker, S. Colonna and P. L. Luisi (eds.), ‘Self-Reproduction of Supramolecular Structures’, Proceedings from the Maratea Symposium, Kluwer.
- Morowitz, H.: 1992, The Beginning of Cellular Life, Yale Univ. Press.
- Perret, M.: 1952, New Biol. 12, 68.
- Piries, N. M.: 1953, Discovery 14, 238. I thank Antonio Lazcano for this information.
- Rizzotti (ed.): 1996, ‘Defining Life’, University Padua Press.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Szostak, J. W., Bartel, D. P., & Luisi, P. L. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35053176 · Cited by 1,681
Self-citationA vesicle bioreactor as a step toward an artificial cell assembly
Noireaux, V., & Libchaber, A. (2004) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0408236101 · Cited by 1,152
The antiquity of RNA-based evolution.
Joyce, G. F. (2002) · Nature · doi:10.1038/418214a · Cited by 1,070
Ten reasons to exclude viruses from the tree of life
Moreira, D., & López‐García, P. (2009) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/nrmicro2108 · Cited by 485
An Organizational Account of Biological Functions
Mossio, M., Alejandro, C., & Moreno, Á. (2009) · The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science · doi:10.1093/bjps/axp036 · Cited by 399
Metadata
- Authors
- Luisi, P. L.
- Affiliations
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Luisi, Pier Luigi
- Venue
- Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere
- Published
- 1998-10
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 4-6
- Pages
- 613-622
- ISSN
- 0169-6149 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-0875
- OpenAlex
- W2144406157
- Cited by
- 266
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 2.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Keywords
- concept of life, origin of life, philosophy of biology
- MeSH terms
- Origin of Life, Biological Evolution, Models, Biological, Philosophy, United States, United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Exobiology, Life, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century
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