Abstract
In order to support the goal of comprehensive detection of life with appropriate conceptual tools we should have a clear definition of life. However, it is known that the definition of life is far from satisfactory and it is doubtful whether a definition of life is possible or needed. In this paper, I suggest that it is possible to approach life from a biosemiotic perspective as a meaning-making process, i.e., a process that yields the system's specific response to an indeterminate signal.
About the author
Yair Neuman (b. 1968) is a Senior Lecturer at Ben-Gurion University 〈yneuman@bgumail.bgu.ac.il〉. His research interests are in systems research, semiotics, and cognition. His recent major publications include ‘Why do we need signs in biological systems’ (in press); ‘Meaning making in language and biology’ (in press); ‘Meaning-making in the immune system’ (2004); and ‘A theory of meaning’ (in press).
© Walter de Gruyter
