I think the title explains itself.
Thanks for the help!
EDIT: I know they are not alive, but can be “de-activated”, my bad for expressing myself in a bad way.
In: Biology
Tricky question cause their are two answers. One: viruses aren’t considered dead in the context you are asking. They are simply not considered alive. There is such thing as a “dead virus” but usually the term is “inactive” not “dead.” The reason they are usually not considered alive is that they don’t meet one of the definitions of being alive: being able to self reproduce. Viruses *require* another organism to make more copies, so by definition, it isn’t alive. The second reason this is tricky, is that many scientists do consider them alive. They have enough of the characteristics of a living thing that many consider them alive. You have chosen to ask one of the more interesting philosophical questions that scientists struggle to find a solid answer for.
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