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Article ID: CBB997086708

The metaphor that viruses are living is alive and well, but it is no more than a metaphor (2016)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 59
Pages: 117-124

URI: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848616300115

DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2016.02.017

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Philosophy of biology Development; growth; life; death Anthropomorphism Evolution Genomics Mutation Symbiosis Immunology Metaphors; analogies Microbiology Virology

Virologists often use anthropomorphic metaphors to vividly describe the properties of viruses and this has led some virologists to claim that viruses are living microorganisms. The discovery of giant viruses that are larger and have a more complex genome than small bacteria has fostered the interpretation that viral factories, which are the compartments in virus-infected cells where the virus is being replicated, are able to transform themselves into a new type of living viral organism called a virocell. However, because of the widespread occurrence of horizontal gene transfer, endosymbiosis and hybridization in the evolution of viral genomes, it has not been possible to include metaphorical virocells in the so-called Tree of Life which itself is a metaphor. In the case of viruses that cause human diseases, the infection process is usually presented metaphorically as a war between host and virus and it is assumed that a virus such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is able to develop new strategies and mechanisms for escaping protective host immune responses. However, the ability of the virus to defeat the immune system is solely due to stochastic mutations arising from the error-prone activity of the viral enzyme reverse transcriptase. The following two types of metaphors will be distinguished: an intentionality metaphor commonly used for attributing goals and intentions to organisms and the living virus metaphor that considers viruses to be actually living organisms.

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