Thinking about Life

Our previous book, About Life, concerned modern biology. We used our present-day understanding of cells to ¿define¿ the living state, providing a basis for exploring several general-interest topics: the origin of life, extraterrestrial life, intelligence, and the possibility that humans are unique. The ideas we proposed in About Life were intended as starting-points for debate ¿ we did not claim them as ¿truth¿ ¿ but the information on which they were based is currently accepted as ¿scientific fact¿. What does that mean? What is ¿scientific fact¿ and why is it accepted? What is science ¿ and is biology like other sciences such as physics (except in subject m- ter)? The book you are now reading investigates these questions ¿ and some related ones. Like About Life, it may particularly interest a reader who wishes to change career to biology and its related subdisciplines. In line with a recommendation by the British Association for the Advancement of Science ¿ that the public should be given fuller information about the nature of science ¿ we present the concepts underpinning biology and a survey of its historical and philosophical basis.