Speaker: Professor Shunong Bai (Emeritus Professor, School of Life Sciences, Peking University)

Moderator: Chuang Liu (Academic Director, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Distinguished Professor, School of Philosophy, Fudan University)

Commentators:

  • · Xiaoli Liu (Professor, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China; Chief Expert, Interdisciplinary Platform for Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Renmin University of China)
  • · Cheng Bi (Associate Professor, Institute of Science, Technology, and Society, School of Marxism, University of Science and Technology Beijing; Secretary-General, Ecological Philosophy Professional Committee, Chinese Society for Dialectics of Nature)

Time: Thursday, November 28, 2024, 15:00 - 17:00

Venue: Lecture Hall, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Sciences (4th Floor, South Building, Building 4, Software Park, No. 4 Zhongguancun South Street)

Organizer: Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Abstract: Due to an unavoidable phenomenon encountered in his research—the unidirectionality in the morphogenesis of multicellular eukaryotes—the speaker had to confront the question, "What is life?" In his contemplation, he proposed the concept of "structure replaces energy," differing from Schrödinger's notion of "negative entropy" regarding life systems. Additionally, when addressing the question of what constitutes "life" in teaching activities, he discovered a counterintuitive explanation: life precedes organisms. On this basis, he gradually formed the "Integron Theory of Life." Under this conceptual framework, life systems form spontaneously, eliminating the need for any teleological explanations. This offers a different perspective for resolving long-standing debates in life system research, such as generationism vs. creationism, mechanism vs. vitalism, and reductionism vs. holism. Furthermore, the speaker will share thoughts on the impending paradigm shift in life science research and the inseparable and indispensable role of philosophical cognition in scientific research, inviting discussion.

Speaker Bio: Professor Shunong Bai is an Emeritus Professor at the School of Life Sciences, Peking University. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, he has primarily engaged in the study and research of plant developmental biology. He has published over 100 papers in journals such as Science, PNAS, Nature Plants, and Science China. He has proposed concepts like "Plant Developmental Unit," "Sexual Reproduction Cycle," and "Plant Developmental Program," summarizing the core processes and regulatory mechanisms of plant development (i.e., morphogenesis) as "Plant Morphogenesis 1-2-3." Through research on plant developmental phenomena, reflection, and teaching alongside graduate and undergraduate students, he has long contemplated the essence of life, the essence of education, and the training objectives of undergraduate education in life sciences. Portions of these thoughts are shared with readers in his recently published books Life of Nine Orders of Magnitude Years and The Logic of Life—An Introduction to the Integron Theory of Life. He currently offers the course "The Logic of Life" during the summer semester at Peking University. 

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