The autonomy of biology: The position of biology among the sciences

Philosophers of science have claimed that the position of biology among the sciences is the most prominent and controversial issue of the philosophy of biology. Some authors consider biology merely a ''province'' of physics and reducible to physics, others uphold the autonomy of biology, while still others have decided that biology lacks the rigor to justify being considered a genuine science. In my own analysis of this problem, I have concluded that the science of biology has all the attributes of a genuine science, as well as a number of other characteristics restricted to biology. These characteristics are listed and discussed. They justify ranking biology as an autonomous science, just as autonomous as physics and many other sciences.