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I agree, in that the majority of things in our world are social constructions, perhaps including life itself. It doesn't mean that the implications felt are not very real. The idea that some races, and genders are subordinate to others is a human fabrication, and yet racism and sexism are very real global issues. Perhaps science itself is nothing more than a coping mechanism, something can help us manage a world that at times can seem incredibly abstract and frightening. So perhaps there is no method of defining life other than the instinctual, we just have to know what it means to be alive the way in the same way that we believe we know what it means to be a man, or what it means to be a woman.