Formas do vivo e no vivo: imitar e/ou reproduzir a vida

Abstract

Questions related to forms and morphology acquired a central position in the sciences after the xviii th century, particularly in biology. Since 1890, forms entered into biochemistry starting from the notion of specificity (fit among molecules is said to be like that of key and lock). Different orientations in biology (particularly after the molecular biology revolution and the development of systemic biology, synthetic biology and works clearly oriented to the nanometric scales) have attributed different meanings to the notions of form and specificity. The different perspectives on the one hand, those in which these notions are used, mainly in connection with the question of boundaries between the living and the non-living, and between nature and artificial and, on the other hand, those in which they are eliminated, replaced, for example, by the notions of information and code could provide the key to understanding the deep epistemology of research in these areas, and the "paradigms" that bring together researchers who begin their work in distinct scientific communities. The analysis proposed here is mainly based on the idea of invariability of concepts and ideas that, more or less explicitly, can resemble organizing principles of scientific activities.