Abstract

History of philosophy offers many examples capable of informing discussions related to questions, topics and problems, which are actual for both philosophy and particular scientific fields. Explanation of the nature of life is such a topic. Although current debates have been paying attention to the impact of scientific findings on our understanding of the phenomenon of life, the very definition of life falls in to the continuum between philosophy and science, the endeavor to capture origin of life and possibilities of creating artificial life bring up both theoretical and practical questions alike. In this paper we approach to the analysis of the standpoint of one of the most important philosophical authorities of modern philosophy, René Descartes. By the analysis of his approach to the nature of life we try to amend his reception and intellectual legacy of not so well appreciated part of his works.