How come cells are alive, but the pieces that make up them aren’t?

Question

How come cells are alive, but the pieces that make up them aren’t?

In: Biology

Answer 1

How come a square is a square, but the 4 lines that make it, are not a square?

Our definitions of things have requirements in order for the definition to be applicable. The parts of a cell don’t meet the definition, but their gestalt (the sum of the parts is bigger than the whole), does.