The establishment of cosmology as a science provides a parallel to the building-up of the scientific status of astrobiology. The rise of astrobiological studies is explicitly based on a transdisciplinary approach that reminds of the Copernican Revolution, which eroded the basis of a closed Aristotelian worldview and reinforced the notion that the frontiers between disciplines are artificial. Given the intrinsic complexity of the astrobiological studies, with its multifactorial evidences and theoretical/experimental approaches, multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives are mandatory. Insulated expertise cannot grasp the vastness of the astrobiological issues. This need for integration among disciplines and research areas is antagonistic to excessive specialization and compartmentalization, allowing astrobiology to be qualified as a truly transdisciplinary enterprise. The present paper discusses the scientific status of astrobiological studies, based on the view that every kind of life, Earth-based or not, should be considered in a cosmic context. A confluence between ‘astro’ and ‘bio’ seeks the understanding of life as an emerging phenomenon in the universe. Thus, a new epistemological niche is opened, pointing to the development of a pluralistic vision for the philosophy of astrobiology.

ResumoO Darwinismo Universal foi um conceito desenvolvido por Richard Dawkins em 1983. Ele responde positivamente à conjectura "Se existe vida fora da Terra, os organismos evoluem como os seres vivos da Terra?". Por implicar em uma pergunta empírica, testável apenas quando encontrarmos vida extraterrestre, ela pode ser reformulada nos seguintes termos: "se existe vida fora da Terra, conseguiríamos detectá-la utilizando ferramentas baseadas no Darwinismo Universal?". Cabe avaliar se a complexidade adaptativa centrada na seleção natural seria suficiente para explicar a evolução orgânica em qualquer parte do universo. O próprio Charles Darwin defendia um pluralismo explicativo para a evolução. Aqui, a proposta é discutir uma definição geral de vida não fundamentada exclusivamente na ideia de seleção natural mas incluindo conceitos como a autoorganização, que explica a emergência da ordem biológica a partir de características intrínsecas dos sistemas físico-químicos. O darwinismo estendido é um possível quadro teórico que busca uma compreensão universal da vida como um fenômeno emergente no intuito de reabilitar a universalidade e autonomia biológica, tendo como norte diferentes mecanismos evolutivos. Assim, abre-se um novo nicho epistemológico, que permite desenvolver uma visão plural para a filosofia da biologia. Palavras-chave: auto-organização; bioassinatura; Darwinismo Universal; seleção natural; vida. AbstractUniversal Darwinism was a concept developed by Richard Dawkins in 1983. It responds positively to the conjecture "If there is life beyond Earth, the organisms evolve as living beings on Earth?". Since it implies an empirical question, testable only when we find extraterrestrial life, the question can be reformulated as follows: "if there is life beyond Earth, we could detect it using tools based on Universal Darwinism?". We should evaluate if adaptive complexity focused on natural selection would be sufficient to explain the organic evolution in the whole universe. Charles Darwin himself advocated an explanatory pluralism to evolution. Herein, the proposal is to discuss a general definition of life not exclusively based on the idea of natural selection, but also including concepts such as selforganization, which explains the emergence of biological order from the intrinsic characteristics of the physical-chemical systems. The extended Darwinism is a possible theoretical framework that seeks a universal understanding of life as an emerging phenomenon in order to rehabilitate the universality and autonomy of biology based on different evolutionary mechanisms. Thus, a new epistemological niche is opened, which allows the development of a pluralistic vision for the philosophy of biology.