[aquila48]

Life, on the other hand, cannot be explained only by such external forces.

What differentiates living things from non-living things?

Is it not above all the irrepressible instinct for survival? When did this "internal" force first come about? And why and how?

And isn't this internal force, reacting to external forces that determines the choices (including form) either made by, or imposed on organisms?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for your reply!

Indeed, many of us consider the first question to be "what is life v. non-life/death in nature?". To that end, you might enjoy this thread: Can the Monist view account for 'what is life?'.

On that thread, I offered the only mathematical definition known to me at post 164.

Is it not above all the irrepressible instinct for survival? When did this "internal" force first come about? And why and how? And isn't this internal force, reacting to external forces that determines the choices (including form) either made by, or imposed on organisms?

We have been exploring this - alternately called "will to live", "struggle to survive", "life principle" or "fecundity principle/evolution of one" on several threads. In sum, the direction of the investigations we've explored points to a universal vacuum field, i.e. existing in all points of space/time.