In philosophy and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...

, a biofact is a being that is both an artifact and living being, or both

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

and

artificial Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring nature, naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotations Artific ...

. This being has been created by purposive human action but exists by processes of growth. The word is a

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

coined from the Portmanteau, combination of the words ''bios'' and

artifact Artifact, or artefact, may refer to: Science and technology * Artifact (error), misleading or confusing alteration in data or observation, commonly in experimental science, resulting from flaws in technique or equipment ** Compression artifact, a ...

. There are sources who cite some creations of

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...

as examples of biofacts.

History

''Biofact'' was introduced as early as 2001 by the German philosopher

Nicole C. Karafyllis Nicole C. Karafyllis (born 22 April 1970 in Lüdinghausen, West Germany) is a German philosopher and biologist. As of 2010, she has been a Professor of Philosophy at the TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig/Brunswick Institute of Technology (Germany). B ...

although her book ''Biofakte'' published in 2003 is commonly used as reference for the introduction of the term. According to Karafyllis, the word biofact first appeared in a German article (entitled 'Biofakt und Artefakt') in 1943, written by the Austrian protozoologist Bruno M. Klein. Addressing both microscopy and philosophy, Klein named a biofact something that is a visible dead product emerging from a living being while this being is still alive (e.g. a shell). However, Klein's distinction operated with the difference biotic/abiotic and dead/alive, not with nature/technology and growth/man-made. For her part, Karafyllis described biofact as a hermeneutic concept that allows the comparison between nature and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

in the domain of the living.

Philosophy

With the term ''biofact'', Karafyllis wants to emphasize that living entities can be highly artificial due to methods deriving from agriculture, gardening (e.g. breeding) or

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

(e.g.

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...

). Biofacts show signatures of

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...

and technique. Primarily, the concept aims to argue against the common philosophical tradition to summarize all kinds of living beings under the category

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

. The concept ''biofact'' questions if the phenomenon of growth is and was a secure candidate for differentiating between nature and technology. For the

philosophy of technology The philosophy of technology is a sub-field of philosophy that studies the nature of technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also m ...

the questions arise if a) biotechnology and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

should not be an integral part of ''reflexion'', thereby adding new insights to the common focus on the machine and the artifact, and if b) established concepts of technique and technology which stress artificiality should not be modified. Karafyllis regards the inclusion of biofacts into a theory of techniques as a chance, to reformulate classic concepts of

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

and

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

for defining the making of artifacts. In her view, biofacts depend on the method of provocation. For the

philosophy of nature Nature has two inter-related meanings in philosophy and natural philosophy. On the one hand, it means the set of all things which are natural, or subject to the normal working of the laws of nature. On the other hand, it means the essential pro ...

, biofacts highlight a need to clarify if nature is self-explanatory in every case. Biophilosophy is challenged to newly reflect upon the categories organism and living being. In the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ulti ...

, approaches are challenged which only focus on the category thing (or epistemic thing) without historizing the technicality, mediality and materiality of its emerging as a living object. For the

sociology of science The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing with "the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity." The sociolo ...

the biofact concept is fruitful to discuss the exclusiveness of scientific knowledge (the role of the expert) while making scientific objects which are released into the

lifeworld Lifeworld (or life-world) (german: Lebenswelt) may be conceived as a universe of what is self-evident or given, a world that subjects may experience together. The concept was popularized by Edmund Husserl, who emphasized its role as the ground ...

or public sphere. Particularly because the biofact concept deals with the

phenomenon A phenomenon (plural, : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influe ...

of growth and the establishing of a

self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

, it is also influential in the philosophical disciplines phenomenology,

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ...

. It was

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (, ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas's ...

who recently stressed the anthropological consequences if mankind gives up the differentiation of "coming into being" and "making". Artifacts are artificial, i.e. man-made objects. Contrary to biofacts, they cannot be found in nature. Therefore, biofacts demarcate an ontological intersection. They are partially man-made, but growing. Like artifacts, they have been made for a certain

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosoph ...

. Biofacts can be seen as biotic artifacts which show their character as hybrids in multifold perspectives. The term is also enabling philosophers to criticize some concepts in

technoscience In common usage, technoscience refers to the entire long-standing global human activity of technology combined with the relatively recent scientific method that occurred primarily in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. Technoscience is the ...

, where the union of scientific knowledge about nature and the technical creation of technonature is seen as progress in the political sense. The term has also been adopted in the new BioArt, not rarely without using its critical impacts. As Karafyllis complemented the growth and reproduction of organisms with technical entities, she established a typology of different kinds of organisms according to their uses and these are: * Natural life form * Unaltered biofacts * Reshaped biofacts * Genetically reproduced biofacts * Genetically modified biofacts.

References

{{reflist

Literature

* Nicole C. Karafyllis (ed.): ''Biofakte - Versuch über den Menschen zwischen Artefakt und Lebewesen''. Paderborn, Mentis 2003 (in German). * Nicole C. Karafyllis: ''Biofakte - Grundlagen, Probleme, Perspektiven''. Discussion Unit in the journal ''Deliberation Knowledge Ethics'' / ''Erwaegen Wissen Ethik'', Vol. 17, Nr. 4 (2006). (in German with English abstracts) * Nicole C. Karafyllis: ''Growth of Biofacts: the real thing or metaphor?''. In: R. Heil, A. Kaminski, M. Stippack, A. Unger and M. Ziegler (Ed.): Tensions and Convergences. Technological and Aesthetic (Trans)Formations of Society. Bielefeld (2007). 141–152. (in English) * Nicole C. Karafyllis: ''Endogenous Design of Biofacts. Tissues and Networks in Bio Art and Life Science''. In: sk-interfaces. Exploding borders - creating membranes in art, technology and society. Ed. by Jens Hauser. Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press (European Ed.) (2008), 42–58. (in English) * Nicole C. Karafyllis: ''Ethical and epistemological problems of hybridizing living beings: Biofacts and Body Shopping''. In: Wenchao Li and Hans Poser (Ed.): ''Ethical Considerations on Today's Science and Technology. A German-Chinese Approach''. Münster: LIT 2007, 185–198. (in English) * Karafyllis, N.C.: ''Artefakt – Lebewesen – Biofakt. Philosophische Aspekte lebendiger Bauten''. In: G. de Bruyn et al. (Eds.): ''Lebende Bauten – Trainierbare Tragwerke''. Schriftenreihe Kultur und Technik, Vol. 16. Münster, New York. 2009: LIT, 97–111. (in German) * Karafyllis, N.C. ''Biofakte als neue Kategorie der Informatik?'' In: Raimund Jakob, Lothar Phillips, Erich Schweighofer, Czaba Varga (Eds.): ''Auf dem Weg zur Idee der Gerechtigkeit. Gedenkschrift für Ilmar Tammelo''. Münster u.a.: LIT. 249–262. (in German) * Karafyllis, N. C.: ''Provokation als Methode der biotechnischen Evolution'', in: Volker Gerhardt, Klaus Lucas and Günter Stock (Eds.): ''Evolution. Theorie, Formen und Konsequenzen eines Paradigmas in Natur, Technik und Kultur''. Berlin: Akademie Verlag 2011

Secondary literature (in English)

* Suzanne Anker, "Technogenesis", in: B. Andrew Lustig, Baruch A. Brody, Gerald P. McKenny (Eds.): ''Altering nature: concepts of nature and the natural in biotechnology debates'', Springer 2008, pp. 275–322. *Torsten Meyer and Uta Hassler:
Construction History and the History of Science
", ''Proceedings of the Third International Concress of Concstruction History'', Cottbus May 2009 * Orlan: A Hybrid Body of Artworks, ed. by S. Shepherd and Orlan, Taylor&Francis 2010. * Ingeborg Reichle: ''Art in the Age of Technoscience. Genetic Engineering, Robotics, and Artificial Life in Contemporary Art''. Vienna, New York: Springer 2010. → See the German Wikipedia entry for further literature in German.

External links

Biofakt.com
Concepts in the philosophy of mind Natural philosophy Philosophy of technology Concepts in the philosophy of science Biotechnology