在这次审查中,我们描述了生命起源研究面临的一些核心哲学问题,并提供了导致生命起源研究多学科领域发展的有针对性的历史。我们概述了这些问题和发展,以指导来自各个领域的研究人员和学生。关于哲学,我们提供关于(1)生活定义(或理论)的辩论的简短摘要,在没有公认的生命理论的情况下,生命是什么以及应该如何进行研究,(2)合成之间的区别,历史,和生命起源研究的普遍项目,推断生命起源的策略问题,例如(3)第一个生物实体的性质(“自下而上”的方法)和(4)如何推断最后一个普遍共同祖先的性质(“自上而下”的方法),(5)生命起源作为一门科学的地位。这些辩论中的每一个都会影响其他辩论。尽管有许多研究人员就这些问题的一些答案达成一致,这些辩论中的每一个仍然是开放的。关于历史,我们概述了几种独立的路径,这些路径导致了现在在生命起源研究中普遍存在的一些方法。其中包括从早期人生观到Linnaeus(vonLinn。),Wöhler,米勒,和其他人。在这种方法中,新理论,工具,和证据指导有关生命本质及其起源的新思想。我们还描述了另一条由“循环”生活方式驱动的路径,这是由马图拉纳和瓦雷拉这样的思想家指导的,甘蒂,罗森,和其他人。这些观点呼应了康德和亚里士多德提出的想法,尽管他们这样做是以产生令人兴奋的调查途径的方式利用现代科学。通过探索这些想法的历史,我们可以看到,目前我们感兴趣的问题中有多少是由思想发展的背景所指导的。这些学者的学科背景影响了他们试图回答的问题,他们设想的实验,以及他们收集的数据种类。最后,我们鼓励人文科学和社会科学的科学家和学者探索他们可以互动的方式,以提供对概念假设的更深入的理解,结构,和生命起源研究的历史。这可能有助于制定未来的研究议程,并提高对这个具有挑战性的科学问题面临的多方面问题的认识。
In this review, we describe some of the central philosophical issues facing origins-of-life research and provide a targeted history of the developments that have led to the multidisciplinary field of origins-of-life studies. We outline these issues and developments to guide researchers and students from all fields. With respect to philosophy, we provide brief summaries of debates with respect to (1) definitions (or theories) of life, what life is and how research should be conducted in the absence of an accepted theory of life, (2) the distinctions between synthetic, historical, and universal projects in origins-of-life studies, issues with strategies for inferring the origins of life, such as (3) the nature of the first living entities (the \"bottom up\" approach) and (4) how to infer the nature of the last universal common ancestor (the \"top down\" approach), and (5) the status of origins of life as a science. Each of these debates influences the others. Although there are clusters of researchers that agree on some answers to these issues, each of these debates is still open. With respect to history, we outline several independent paths that have led to some of the approaches now prevalent in origins-of-life studies. These include one path from early views of life through the scientific revolutions brought about by Linnaeus (von Linn.), Wöhler, Miller, and others. In this approach, new theories, tools, and evidence guide new thoughts about the nature of life and its origin. We also describe another family of paths motivated by a\" circularity\" approach to life, which is guided by such thinkers as Maturana & Varela, Gánti, Rosen, and others. These views echo ideas developed by Kant and Aristotle, though they do so using modern science in ways that produce exciting avenues of investigation. By exploring the history of these ideas, we can see how many of the issues that currently interest us have been guided by the contexts in which the ideas were developed. The disciplinary backgrounds of each of these scholars has influenced the questions they sought to answer, the experiments they envisioned, and the kinds of data they collected. We conclude by encouraging scientists and scholars in the humanities and social sciences to explore ways in which they can interact to provide a deeper understanding of the conceptual assumptions, structure, and history of origins-of-life research. This may be useful to help frame future research agendas and bring awareness to the multifaceted issues facing this challenging scientific question.