Mingo, Daniel J.

BS Architecture 4-2

On the Origin of Life and of Man

What is life? Life is like love. Both words are abstract noun and also both cannot be
touched nor explained by a single and concrete definition. Life can mean our existence here on
Earth as in live your life to the fullest and you only live once. It can also mean that thing that
makes us alive, breathe, wake up, work, etc. But academically speaking, Merriam Webster
Dictionary defines life as the ability to grow, change, etc. that separates plants and animals from
things like water or rocks.
There are few things a living thing can be distinguished from a non-living thing. A living
thing has the ability to move on its own like the vines that climb up to a pole or a bird that flies
high to the sky. A living thing has the control to assimilate and transform matter and energy
metabolism can take in matter and energy, and convert and take out them also. Example is the
photosynthesis in plants where they basically take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. A man
eats lots of food to gain energy and works out to burn those excess fats. A living thing can grow
and mature like a seed that sprout and turned into a bushy tree. Reproduction is also a
characteristic of a living thing like an animal that is born from its mother (and from its father in
some species). Moreover, a living thing can adapt to its environment.
On the topic on how the life existed on Earth is really a difficult subject to be answered in
a precise and right explanation. Up to now, there are several theories which proves themselves to
be true. Some of these are the Hylozoism, Creationism, and Naturalism. Hylozoism declares that
everything has life in different levels. Pre-Socratic philosophers concludes that everything on
Earth that are made of the four basic elements of nature earth, fire, water, air has life.
Creationism, on the other hand, claims that God created all the things from earth, life, man, etc.
The Bible states that He created everything within six days and rested on the seventh. Lastly, the
theory of Naturalism proves that living things came from the non-living things as a result of a
continuous process of development. It states that life is a composition of different form of matter.
Speaking of continuous process of development, life is also expounded by theories of
evolution. There are two types namely inorganic and organic. Inorganic evolution states that non-
living things evolve through time while organic evolution refers to the biological evolution of
living things. Examples of organic evolution are the theories like Lamarkism, Darwinism, and
Theory of Emergence or Levels.
Lamarkism by J.B. de Monte Lamark theorize that environment has a great impact on
living things. When surroundings changes, the living things tend to change and adapt its new
surroundings for survival. When an organ of a living thing is rarely used due to environmental
changes, this organ becomes weak and functionless and when an organ is frequently used, the
said organ will be improved thus changing the physical structure of a living thing. This explains
the law of use and disuse. This changes in structure will soon be inherited by the offspring and
will continue to pass through the generation until a certain degree of change in physical structure
is obtained. For this case, the ancestors physical structure is somehow different from the present
generation.
 Darwinism is the theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace. It
is widely known as the theory of natural selection. The concept of natural selection was
initially introduced by Thomas Robert Malthus. In order to survive, men struggle in an
aggressive competition where those who are strong enough to survive will be able to continue to
live and even reproduce their kind while those who are weak perishes. Those who survive are
called the fittest and selected by nature to propagate.
Lastly, the Theory of Levels or Emergence explains that the universe give something new
to every level or stage of evolution of matter. It states that it is not just a duplication of the
previous stage. Example is an atom that turns to molecules to cells to life to mind to
consciousness and so on. It also states that all living things are same in kind but differ in degree
of evolution. As Teilhard de Chardin conclude, there is an evolutionary growth characterized by
development from the simplest form of matter through systems of natural environment to the
broad formation of human sentimental and cognitive skills which directs the evolution to
psychic.
From all these questions about the meaning of life, the origins of life, and the evolution of
life, we cannot assure the right or best answer. We can only judge them by ourselves individually.
We are only humans that have different views and levels of consciousness, intelligence, and
memory. But no matter what, we, humans, still has the highest degree or level in the hierarchy in
the world.