Was ist „Leben“?

Zur metaphorischen Rahmung eines grundlegenden biologischen Konzepts in der Systembiologie

Abstract

After the successful structural analysis of the human and other organisms’ genomes, the last two decades witnessed a methodological shift in the area of research in the life sciences: The move into omics approaches aimed at capturing the totality not only of genes, but also of transcribed sequences and proteins. The systematisation, interpretation and integration of data produced required new concepts which go beyond a linear understanding of biological processes and moved on to a systems understanding of living entities. Taking this development seriously, the paper investigates the metaphorical framing of the basic notion of ‘life’ by German systems biologists to understand which scientific, technological, social and cultural imaginations engender it with meaning. The results show that an empirical analysis can be a starting point for the development of a ‘critical metaphor assessment’ which contributes to a better understanding of the implications nestling in the metaphorical reasoning about scientific concepts.