Selected defining aspects of bodies, as jointly biological organisms and social beings4
| Body aspect | Features |
|---|---|
| (1) as biological organism and member of a biological species | reproduce: capacity to give rise to the next generation, whether asexually (typically the case for bacteria, the most common form of life on Earth) or sexually (involving contribution of genetic information from both biological parents), even if not every organism itself reproduces. |
| develop: life history change within an organism, involving generation of cellular diversity, differentiation, and morphogenesis. | |
| grow: increase in physical size; in multicellular organisms, by processes involving regulation of cell division, addition of new cells (by mitosis), and deletion of extant cells (by apoptosis). | |
| interact: with other members of species (in deme), with other organisms in same ecosystem, and with the physical environment(s) in which the ecosystem is located, so as to meet basic needs for food, safety, pleasure, procreation, and rest, including avoiding noxious stimuli, seeking life sustaining environs, plus reproducing. | |
| exist in time and space: from birth until death, bodies exist (and, if motile, move around) in spatially and temporally delimited ecosystems, with geographically contingent patterns of temperature, climate (if on land), altitude, and diurnal change (periods of light and dark). | |
| evolve: given key criteria of reproduction, inheritance, and genetic variation, evolution involves emergence of new traits and new species, reflecting possibilities enabled and constrained through historically contingent biological processes that are “selected” or “filtered” in a context of changed environments. | |
| (2) as social being and member of society | societal context: live life in the society (or societies) of which one is a member, vis a vis historical period, economy, political and legal system, technology, and social, cultural, civil, economic and political rights, resources, relationships and institutions, plus location in the global economy and global institutions of governance. |
| social position: born into and/or raised in, and later form, what type of family and/or household, vis a vis social relations of class, gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, and other salient social divisions premised on power, property, and social inequality. | |
| social production: engaged in socially delimited processes, relationships, and institutions, contingent on one’s social position, involving production, exchange, distribution and consumption of goods and services, and also ideas and information, with differential distribution and intergenerational transfer of assets typically enforced by law. | |
| social consumption: engaged in socially delimited processes, relationships, and institutions, contingent on one’s social position, involving acquisition and consumption of goods, services, and ideas and information required to meet basic needs (for physical survival) and social needs (for a socially meaningful life). | |
| social reproduction: socially delimited processes that sustain, modify, or replace societal structures, relationships, and institutions. |