The Self-construction of a Living Organism

This chapter theorizes that an adequate conception of the living organism must account for it in dynamic terms, and that epigenetics provides some crucial elements for doing so. It shows that there is sufficient empirical evidence for advancing the hypothesis that, on the assumption that a living organism is a self-developing being, it is possible to identify a living organism spatiotemporally for at least a subclass of living organisms. Issues related to the identity and individuality of living organisms shall be addressed by making a crucial distinction between the constitution of living organisms and their self-construction or self-development. The chapter begins by presenting certain notions that are necessary to set the background for the succeeding sections where our model is deployed. The final section then applies the model to the case of monozygotic twins.