The Following Passage Contains an Argument That Is Somewhat Complex

Essay

The following passage contains an argument that is somewhat complex, either because it makes complicated claims or contains a lot of supplementary information. Represent the argument in standard form.
The passage: When we think about living things in general (from microbes and plants to humans and other animals), we can see that an organism is alive if, and only if, it is
functioning as an integrated whole. Certain parts of an organism can stop working and it will still count as alive because it is still a distinct individual that maintains its own structure and functioning: a plant can still be alive even if one of its leaves dies, and a person can still be alive even if they have poor liver function. Furthermore, because a human organism functions as an integrated whole if, but only if, its brain has not entirely and irreversibly ceased to function, we can conclude that a human is dead if, and only if, their entire brain has irreversibly ceased to function.