Marie George

Professor
St John’s University

In this essay, I will investigate the modern scientific understanding of what a living thing is, and the effect this understanding has on how biologists nowadays conduct research.  I will do the former primarily by contrasting the modern biologists’ understanding of living things with that of Aristotle.  The principle points of comparison will concern their respective views on:  what it means to be alive; whether the notion of soul is expendable; where finality or purpose is located in the living realm; whether there is hierarchy in nature; whether human beings are a life form differing in kind from other animals.  Along the way I will also consider what effect modern biologists’ understanding of living things has on the way they do research.  In principle, one’s general understanding of what a thing is should guide the method one adopts for the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding of that thing; a mistaken understanding of one’s subject matter can result in one adopting inappropriate methods of study, whereas a correct understanding does much towards the development of fruitful methodologies.