Helmut, Edwina, Jon, list, Few borders in any realm, animate or inanimate, are clearly defined. There is a continuum. The inanimate realm has extremes from sharp boundaries (a crystal) to extremely vague boundaries (the earth's atmosphere). The borders of living things are an intermediate case.
HR
In animate world, organisms have clear borders, their skin surface.
The surface is a vague boundary. All plants and animals have exterior cells that are dead or dying (hair, skin, scales, bark) and they have secretions (sweat, tears, oils, sap, resins). The outer layers are always mixed with liquids and solids from all kinds of sources (living or non-living), and they are subject to various abrasions and adhesions -- deliberate or accidental (e.g., a bird preening its feathers, animals scratching, grooming themselves or others, rolling in the dust, or washing in water). Even the interior is not well defined. There are many more billions of bacterial cells than human cells in and on the human body. Some of them are pathogens, but most are *essential* to human health. HR
I was thinking, that a token is something separate (discontinuous) by nature. But if it isn´t necessarily...
Many discontinuities are caused by the way we think and talk. The Russian ruka corresponds to English hand + wrist + forearm. We count trees by the number of trunks that grow out of the ground, but an aspen may consist of a single root system with dozens of trunks. ET
The fact that [a molecule's] composition is specific; i.e., a specific number of electrons/protons/neutrons - gives it a distinct identity that differentiates it from another TYPE of chemical.
Very few molecules exist in isolation. For example, salt (NaCl) rarely consists of Na-CL pairs. In a crystal, the atoms are organized in a lattice where each atom is surrounded by atoms of both kinds. In water, Na ions float independently of CL ions. ET
in the biological realm, ... Each token is more or less unique from other tokens even if they all belong to the same TYPE. That is, a particular species of dog will, each one, be slightly different in temperament and even look, but all will be members of ONE particular Type/Breed of dog...
There are no clear boundaries between breeds (varieties) and species. Dogs interbreed with wolves, which interbreed with coyotes. Domestic cats interbreed with many kinds of wild cats. The methods of genetic engineering use the same mechanisms as gene transfers that occur naturally. Furthermore, the DNA of every living thing is constantly changing throughout life. Most epigenetic changes are normal and necessary for maturation. Others may be harmful, beneficial, or neutral. And many can be inherited. The only reason why DNA remains relatively stable is that repair mechanisms in each cell are constantly fixing errors -- but they don't catch all errors. ET
in the physico-chemical realm, the majority of tokens are similar. This gives the physico-chemical realm a great deal of stability.
The stability results from laws of nature (or known approximations called laws of physics): conservation of mass-energy, momentum, angular momentum, charge, etc. But the question of "majority" depends on what you're counting. Photons from the early universe can be stable for billions of years. But the instant they hit your retina or a photocell in a camera, they change. Electrons, protons, and neutrons are relatively stable, but most other particles are highly unstable. In quantum electrodynamics, the vacuum supposedly consists of virtual particles that are constantly popping in and out of a shadowy state that is on the borderline of existence. JAS
biological Types are less restrictive and thus more flexible than most physico-chemical Types--which is one reason why biology is not reducible to chemistry and/or physics.
I agree that biology is not reducible to chemistry or physics. But I'd say that the major difference was caused by the first quasi-minds, which created the first non-degenerate Thirdness (purpose, goals, or intentions). John
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