Emergence of Life

Author: Weber, Bruce H.

Source: Zygon, Volume 42, Number 4, December 2007 , pp. 837-856(20)

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Abstract:

Discussions of the origin of life usually assume that there is a specific event, however improbable, by which dead matter became a living entity. Naturalistic accounts, although in seeming opposition to theistic explanations of the apparent design of even the simplest cells, often share the assumption that there is a specific line to be crossed. If the problem is recast as one of a process of emergence of biochemistry from protobiochemistry, which in turn emerged from the organic chemistry and geochemistry of primitive earth, the resources of the new sciences of complex systems dynamics can provide a more robust conceptual framework within which to explore the possible pathways of chemical complexification leading to life. In such a view the emergence of life is the result of deep natural laws (the outlines of which we are only beginning to perceive) and reflects a degree of holism in those systems that led to life. Further, there is the possibility of developing a more general theory of biology and of natural organization from such an approach. The emergence of life may thus be seen as an instance of the broader innate creativity of nature and consistent with a possible natural teleology.

Keywords: biogenesis; complexity; emergence; natural organization; natural teleology; origin of life; process

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00876.x

Affiliations: 1: Professor of Biochemistry Emeritus, California State University Fullerton, and Robert H. Woodworth Chair in Science and Natural Philosophy Emeritus, Bennington College. His address is Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92835-6866;, Email: bhweber@fullerton.edu.

Publication date: 2007-12-01