CHAPTER II 



THE THEORY OF THE 

 ETERNITY OF LIFE 



The theory of the eternity of 

 life among the ancients. 



It is a necessary and inevitable consequence of all idealistic 

 doctrines that they assume that life is eternal. Idealism sets 

 up, in opposition to the frail material world in which every- 

 thing has its beginning and its end, the eternal and unchang- 

 ing spirit. Living creatures are born and die, but life itself, 

 being a non-material principle, the essence of life, is spiritual 

 and hence eternal. Life is never destroyed, nor does it arise 

 afresh ; it only changes its external material envelope, as 

 it transforms inert material into living organisms. 



From this point of view the principle of the eternity of 

 life is not incompatible with the possibility of spontaneous 

 generation of living creatures. As we have seen in the 

 previous chapter, idealists have, from ancient times, united 

 the two doctrines. This union was specially clearly expressed 

 in the doctrine of ' panspermia '. According to this, the 

 fertilising or life-giving principle takes the form of invisible 

 spiritual germs of life dispersed everywhere. 



We first encounter the actual term ' panspermia ' in the 

 work of the ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (500-428 

 B.c.).^ In his view, the various living creatures originate 

 from slimy earth when it has been fertilised with ' ethereal 

 germs ' (spermata) which are present everywhere. Later on, 

 the doctrine of panspermia acquired a markedly idealistic 

 character. We find it in this form in the teachings of Roman 

 philosophers, of * the fathers of the Christian Church ', of 

 the mediaeval schoolmen and of a number of more recent 

 natural philosophers. 



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