ABSTRACT

This paper details the content and structure of the folk concept of life, and discusses its relevance for scientific research on life. In four empirical studies, we investigate which features of life are considered salient, universal, central, and necessary. Functionings, such as nutrition and reproduction, but not material composition, turn out to be salient features commonly associated with living beings (Study 1). By contrast, being made of cells is considered a universal feature of living species (Study 2), a central aspect of life (Study 3), and our best candidate for being necessary for life (Study 4). These results are best explained by the hypothesis that people take life to be a natural kind subject to scientific scrutiny.

摘要

本文详细介绍了民间生命观念的内容和结构，并讨论了其与生命科学研究的相关性。在四项实证研究中，我们调查了生活的哪些特征被认为是显着的、普遍的、核心的和必要的。营养和繁殖等功能，但不是物质组成，被证明是通常与生物相关的显着特征（研究 1）。相比之下，由细胞组成被认为是生命物种的普遍特征（研究 2）、生命的核心方面（研究 3）以及生命所必需的最佳候选者（研究 4）。这些结果可以通过这样一个假设得到最好的解释：人们认为生命是一种受到科学审视的自然物种。