TY - JOUR TI - From primal scenes to synthetic cells AU - Zwart, Hub VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/03/13 SP - e46518 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e46518 DO - 10.7554/eLife.46518 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.46518 AB - Synthetic cells spark intriguing questions about the nature of life. Projects such as BaSyC (Building a Synthetic Cell) aim to build an entity that mimics how living cells work. But what kind of entity would a synthetic cell really be? I assess this question from a philosophical perspective, and show how early fictional narratives of artificial life – such as the laboratory scene in Goethe’s Faust – can help us to understand the challenges faced by synthetic biology researchers. KW - History of Science KW - Philosophy of Biology KW - Cell Biology KW - Synthetic Cells JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -