Vitalism and the Scientific Image: An Introduction

Abstract

To undertake a history of vitalism at this stage in the development of the ‘biosciences’, theoretical and other, is a stimulating prospect. We have entered the age of ‘synthetic’ life, and our newfound capacities prompt us to consider new levels of analysis and understanding. At the same time, it is possible to detect a growing level of interest in vitalistic and organismic themes, understood in a broadly naturalistic context and approached, not so much from broader cultural perspectives as in the early twentieth century, as from a scientific perspective – or at least a view lying at the boundaries or liminal spaces of what counts as ‘science’.