title: Is synthetic biology mechanical biology?
abstract: A widespread and influential characterization of synthetic biology emphasizes that synthetic biology is the application of engineering principles to living systems. Furthermore, there is a strong tendency to express the engineering approach to organisms in terms of what seems to be an ontological claim: organisms are machines. In the paper I investigate the ontological and heuristic significance of the machine analogy in synthetic biology. I argue that the use of the machine analogy and the aim of producing rationally designed organisms does not necessarily imply a commitment to mechanical biology. The ideal of applying engineering principles to biology is best understood as expressing recognition of the machine-unlikeness of natural organisms and the limits of human cognition. The paper suggests an interpretation of the identification of organisms with machines in synthetic biology according to which it expresses a strategy for representing, understanding, and constructing living systems that are more machine-like than natural organisms.
authors.affiliation: Philosophy Section, Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. suneh@hum.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Sune
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holm
mesh_terms: D057005:Bioengineering; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D010684:Philosophy / Q000266:history*; D058615:Synthetic Biology / Q000266:history*; D049490:Systems Biology