Leo Baeck Institute, 2nd Floor, Arts Two Building, Queen Mary College, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2012;34(3):439-59.
This paper opens by drawing attention to the fact that there is some conceptual confusion with regard to "origin" and "creation." This has its historical roots in the beginnings of modern science and undoubtedly affects our positioning towards the evolutionism/creationism-debate. This article argues that there are relevant ontological, epistemological, thematic, methodological, and logical differences between "origin" and "creation." As a result, the analysis suggests keeping the usage of both concepts strictly quite separate. Creation is not simply another word for origin nor does it stand for an (from a rigid scientific point of view) awkward example of an origin. Irrespective of the apparent similarities as explanatory factors, origin and creation belong to fundamentally different types of concepts. Consequently, "origin of life" and those scientific projects connected to it present themselves as something distinct that neither competes nor meshes with thinking about creation.
本文首先提请注意一个事实，即“起源”和“创造”这两个概念存在一定的混淆。这一混淆的历史根源可以追溯到现代科学的开端，无疑影响了我们在进化论/创造论辩论中的立场。本文认为，“起源”和“创造”之间存在相关的本体论、认识论、主题、方法论和逻辑差异。因此，分析表明，应严格将这两个概念的用法区分开来。创造不是起源的另一个词，也不是（从严格的科学角度来看）起源的一个尴尬例子。无论作为解释因素的表象相似性如何，起源和创造属于根本不同类型的概念。因此，“生命起源”及其与之相关的科学项目本身就是一个独特的存在，既不竞争也不与创造思维融合。
