Origin and Evolution of Life: Science, Religion, Philosophy
Origin and Evolution of Life
Science
Science tries to explain what is happening and predict the future. It does this through empirical evidence, i.e., that which can be perceived by the senses.
The Big Bang theory posits that the origin of the universe was an explosion of matter. As a result of this explosion, the universe today is in constant expansion and growth. In the future, the following may occur:
- The temperature of the universe will lower, and the planets will pull together.
- The universe will stop expanding and begin to contract.
- The universe will remain as it is.
Religion
In a world often filled with contradictions, humans need to find an explanation for everything that happens. To meet this need, humans created mythology and religion.
The Judeo-Christian religion believes that God is the creator of the universe.
Philosophy
Throughout history, many philosophers have sought to explain life. Among them, Plato believed the basis of life is essence. Aristotle believed that life comes from decaying matter, in accordance with his theory of spontaneous generation.
Origin and Evolution of Species
Fixism
Fixism maintains that species are fixed and have never changed. Within Fixism, Creationism believed that God created all species and, as such, they are perfect and do not need to change.
Transformism
Transformism believed that animal species have evolved over time.
Darwinism
This theory is based on:
- All living things have a common origin, including humans.
- Animal species change or evolve.
- Gradualism: Changes occur gradually and not suddenly.
- Natural Selection: Animals from one generation to another have different characteristics, and each species has to adapt to a hostile environment.
Mutations
Mutation is a theory that believes that every individual inherits only potential qualities. These mutations come from the study of DNA from different animal species and are due to chemical elements. Most of the time, mutations are lethal but can empower or help other species.
Synthetic Theory
Widely accepted by science today, it combines Darwin’s theory and mutations.
Darwinism is based on:
- All living things have a common origin, including man.
- Animal species change or evolve.
- Gradualism: changes occur gradually and not suddenly.
- Natural Selection: makes animals from one generation to another with different characteristics and that each species has to adapt to a hostile environment.
Mutation is a theory that believes that every individual inherits only potential qualities. These mutations come from the study of DNA from different animal species due to chemical elements; most of the time, the mutations are lethal but power or help other species.
Hominization
Hominization is the process of human evolution.
Anatomical Changes
The origin of man is in apes, and the first major anatomical change was adopting the bipedal posture (moving using two limbs). At the same time, using two legs to move, they became longer, while the limbs that were not used became shorter (the arms). Another notable development is the growth of encephalization or brain matter volume.
Physiological Changes
The increased capacity to think allowed human beings to create their own tools to do different activities, especially hunting. But the use of these tools, which made life easier, led to a loss of instinct, and humans matured slower than other animals.
Social Change
As man evolved, the need to interact with peer groups became increasingly important. Although man’s major social milestone is the creation and use of language as an instrument of social interaction and to communicate knowledge.