Modern Transformations of the Idea of Autogeny

Abstract

Autogeny, sometimes also called “naïve”, spontaneous generation (Lat. generatio spontanea) is – most generally speaking – a view, according to which living creatures come into being spontaneously and voluntarily from inanimate matter. Such a broad formulation of the idea of autogeny, however, does not show significant differences that occur in understanding it. The basis for these differences is constituted by different definitions of what should be considered inanimate matter, and what – animate matter. A thorough consideration of the arguments that have been offered in the history of research into the nature in order to justify the idea of autogeny, and an investigation into the modern debates and controversies concerning this idea allow discovering a variety of interpretations of the view of a spontaneous and voluntary origin of biological organisms. The variety was formed together with the development of the scientific empirical method and with the participation of philosophical concepts explaining the way the animate world functions. With time, the idea of a spontaneous origin of organisms underwent many transformations, first consisting in limiting the range of its application (from macroscopic organisms with complex structure to relatively simple microorganisms), then in a change in its understanding, and finally to questioning the very idea. Also the way changed, in which the possibility of the occurrence of autogeny in the nature was motivated. However, it seems that the very core of the idea of autogeny, which contains a general thought about transformation of matter leading to the origin of living organisms is still maintained in the contemporary natural science.