Life may exist in a physical world, writes Scott Turner, but it is also marked by attributes not to be found in that world, such as intentionality, purposefulness, design, and intelligence. The Darwinian idea seeks to explain evolution while avoiding those essential attributes of life. The widely misunderstood and trivialized concept of homeostasis might help us bridge the gap between our material and non-material understanding of life.
J. Scott Turner (Wed,) studied this question.