What are we? Are we just our cells or microbes and other entities? These questions have many epistemological, ontological and metaphysical implications that were never taken into account, according to the philosopher Dr. Davide Vecchi professor at the University, who studies the subject in a Fondecyt Initiation Project.

"The philosophical importance of microbial research: the emergence of a new general overview of life" is what Dr. Davide Vecchi, Professor of the Philosophy Department at the University pretends to unveil, in a Fondecyt Project Initiation.

The Italian academic, motivated by the split between science and humanities in the Chilean context, attempts to explore this issue. "I cannot understand why this breakdown occurs. For me, it is natural that science and the humanities should go hand in hand. I consider this a problem of crucial importance, because if Chile needs to develop, it is necessary to question this separation.  An interdisciplinary view is required”, he says.

Specifically, Dr. Vecchi will focus his study considering microbiology, a developing science that deals with the study of microorganisms, because he thinks it has important philosophical implications.

This idea may seem original, but Dr. Vecchi argues that there is diverse research being developed in this framework, "especially in the United States and Australia, where there are many philosophers and scientists working together and doing interdisciplinary work and research in various aspects.”

What are we?
For example, when the Genome Project was completed in 2003, U.S. President Bill Clinton informed the world that the necessary information to understand even the nature of human diseases was already available. However, Dr. Vecchi argues that these promises have not materialized, "because the human body is not just formed by cells with the same genome, but it contains innumerable microbes that directly affect its development and physiology.”

This human exposure to bacteria, viruses and microbes leads to philosophical questions, because "we may ask ourselves: what are we? Are we just our cells? Or are we microbes and other entities? These questions have many epistemological, ontological and metaphysical implications that were never taken into account", this University’s expert says. He is working on this project together with with Isaac Hernandez, a thesis student of the Master’s Degree in Philosophy of Science in the same institution.

His research began in October and he expects to finish it on September 2013, after a series of presentations of his work in Argentina, Santiago and Concepcion. Besides, he is keeping in touch with two research centers, one in Australia and another in Austria, in order to interact with other philosophers, biologists and microbiologists, with similar interests. The results will be published in, at least, one international ISI journal, Dr. Vecchi tells in advance.