关於地球上生命发生的问题,关於各种植物和动物出现的问题,从最古的时候起就为人们所注意。各种宗教从古代开始,就说生物正如地球本身一样,是由於神的创造活动产生出来的。神似乎“赋予”死的物质以某种精神原基,而这种原基就是生命的本质。认为神创造地球上一切现存植物种和动物种、并认为这些种从当时起就一直保持到现在的神话,在很长一个时期占据统治地位。这种宗教的教条现在还为某些资产阶级的科学家,以非常隐秘的方式保留着。他们说生物有一种特别的精神“生命力”,说有机体有一种使它的构造和机能合理化的意图等等。但是,先进人们爱好研究的智慧,在古代就已经不满足宗教对於世界和生命起源问题的解释。伟大的古希腊哲学家德谟克利特企图唯物地解释生命的产生 With regard to the problems of life on earth, the problems of various plants and animals have been noticed since the earliest time. Since ancient times, various religions have said that creatures, like the Earth itself, are created by God’s creative activities. God seems to “give” dead matter a spiritual foundation, which is the essence of life. It has been a long time since God assumed that God created all the existing species of plants and animals on Earth and believes that the myths that these species have been in existence since then are dominant. This religious doctrine is now preserved in some very secretive way for some bourgeois scientists. They say that a living creature has a special “vitality,” saying that the organism has an intention to rationalize its structure and function, and so on. However, advanced people like the wisdom of research, and in ancient times they did not satisfy the religion’s interpretation of the world and the origin of life. The great Greek philosopher Democritus attempted to explain the birth of life materialistically