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Metaphors of Life: Reflections on Metaphors in the Debate on Synthetic Biology

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Ambivalences of Creating Life

Part of the book series: Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment ((ETHICSSCI,volume 45))

Abstract

Metaphors play a constitutive and mostly underestimated role in science in general, in the modern life sciences and bio-technologies in particular, and also in the accompanying ethical debates. The current discussion on synthetic biology can be seen as a prime example for the different ways metaphors enter into an area of conflict between science, technology, society and ethics. There seems to be a connection between the paradigm shift in the epistemological approach, the technological development, the societal discourse and the metaphors that have been used to describe, explain and argue the new field of synthetic biology and its revolutionary nature. The goal of my paper is to outline an analytical frame to determine and decipher the specific role and functions of metaphors in the intersection of science, technology and society. I aim to analyze and criticize the innovative, critical, and argumentative functions of metaphors of “life” in synthetic biology. This analytical frame will then be applied to the example of the metaphor of the genetic code which is the common reference point and driving force in a reconstructed story from Erwin Schrödinger to Craig Venter. This leads to a reassessment of synthetic biology between science and art and focusses on the obscuring and ideological dimension of metaphorical speech about the revolutionary nature of synthetic biology.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a detailed description of the Rathenau Institute’s initiatives to facilitate early engagement with synthetic biology, see Rerimassie (this volume).

  2. 2.

    The following argument applies only to approaches which focus on DNA and are based on the differentiation of the somatic and the genetic level. Some areas of synthetic biology, such as bottom up protocell research, are not concerned with DNA. Although they work with computational methods and concepts, too, the metaphor of the genetic code script does not play a role for these research projects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SYNMIKRO LOEWE-Zentrum für Synthetische Mikrobiologie, Marburg, Germany

    Daniel Falkner

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  1. Daniel Falkner
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  1. EA European Academy of Technology and Innovation Assessment GmbH, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany

    Kristin Hagen

  2. EA European Academy of Technology and Innovation Assessment GmbH, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany

    Margret Engelhard

  3. Center for Literary and Cultural Research Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Georg Toepfer

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Falkner, D. (2016). Metaphors of Life: Reflections on Metaphors in the Debate on Synthetic Biology. In: Hagen, K., Engelhard, M., Toepfer, G. (eds) Ambivalences of Creating Life. Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment, vol 45. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21088-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21088-9_13

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