We have decided to discontinue the publication of preprints on our preprint server end of 2024. The publication culture within mathematics has changed so much due to the rise of repositories such as ArXiV (www.arxiv.org) that we are encouraging all institute members to make their preprints available there. An institute's repository in its previous form is, therefore, unnecessary. The preprints published to date will remain available here, but we will not add any new preprints here.
This is an essay about the conceptual foundations of modern biology and the role that mathematics can play for biology. Traditionally, two aspects have been considered as fundamental for or constitutive of life, reproduction and metabolism. In this article, I wish to develop a conceptualization that combines and intertwines the two aspects.
This paper is an extended version of my presentation at the Conference “Geometry and Phenomenology of the Living. Limits and possibilities of mathematization, complexity and individuation”.