Abstract
Though Darwinian theory dramatically revolutionized biological understanding, its strictly biological focus has resulted in a widening conceptual gulf between the biological and physical sciences. In this paper we strive to extend and reformulate Darwinian theory in physicochemical terms so it can accommodate both animate and inanimate systems, thereby helping to bridge this scientific divide. The extended formulation is based on the recently proposed concept of dynamic kinetic stability and data from the newly emerging area of systems chemistry. The analysis leads us to conclude that abiogenesis and evolution, rather than manifesting two discrete stages in the emergence of complex life, actually constitute one single physicochemical process. Based on that proposed unification, the extended theory offers some additional insights into life's unique characteristics, as well as added means for addressing the three central questions of biology: what is life, how did it emerge, and how would one make it?
Highlights
Despite the enormous developments in molecular biology during the past half century, the science of biology appears to have reached a conceptual impasse
Darwinism did resolve the dilemma of how microscopic complexity was transformed into macroscopic complexity, it did not resolve or even address the most vexing of questions: how did the extraordinary microscopic complexity of the simplest living system emerge in the first place?
By demonstrating the interconnectedness of all living things, Darwin brought a unity and coherence to biology that continues to impact on the subject to this day
Summary
Despite the enormous developments in molecular biology during the past half century, the science of biology appears to have reached a conceptual impasse. In this paper we wish to build on this way of thinking and to draw the outlines of a general theory of evolution, a theory that remains firmly rooted in the Darwinian landscape, but reformulated in physicochemical terms so as to encompass both biological and non-biological systems Such a theory, first and foremost, rests on a basic assumption: that the physicochemical principles responsible for abiogenesis, the so-called chemical phase - the stage in which inanimate matter complexified into a simple living system - are fundamentally the same as those responsible for biological evolution, though for the biological phase these principles are necessarily dressed up in biological garb. The analysis draws heavily on data from the emergent research area termed by Günter von Kiedrowski, ‘Systems Chemistry’ [5,6] The essence of this emergent area is to fill the chemical void between chemistry and biology by seeking the chemical origins of biological organization
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