A CHEMICAL AND METAPHYSICAL EXPLORATION OF SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

Abstract

In this thesis, I deconstruct and demystify modern synthetic biology research with the potential to synthesize life. After a thorough chemical review, one can see that while scientists have not yet successfully constructed life, they have successfully fabricated synthetic forms of life’s fundamental building blocks. Therefore, this research still forces a metaphysical re-examination of how we understand the boundaries between living and nonliving, artificial and natural, and man and God. By dissecting theological discourse and interviews with synthetic biologists themselves, I reframe how scholars and non-scholars alike can understand the metaphysical implications of recent attempts to create living organisms in synthetic biology. This research is not a hubristic attempt by man to take the place of God, dominate nature, and develop an arrogant self-concept as contemporary scholars suggest, but rather it is the best way humans can experience their awe of creation and life. It is an attempt to grow closer to the world we inhabit, and cultivate our relationship with God, nature, and ourselves.