BACKGROUND This essay highlights critical aspects of the plausibility of pre-Darwinian evolution. It is based on a critical review of some better-known open, far-from-equilibrium system-based scenarios supposed to explain processes that took place before Darwinian evolution had emerged and that resulted in the origin of the first systems capable of Darwinian evolution. The researchers' responses to eight crucial questions are reviewed. The majority of the researchers claim that there would have been an evolutionary continuity between chemistry and "biology". A key question is how did this evolution begin before Darwinian evolution had begun? In other words the question is whether pre-Darwinian evolution is plausible. RESULTS Strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed scenarios are presented. They are distinguished between metabolism-first, replicator-first and combined metabolism-replicator models. The metabolism-first scenarios show major issues, the worst concerns heredity and chirality. Although the replicator-first scenarios answer the heredity question they have their own problems, notably chirality. Among the reviewed combined metabolism-replicator models, one shows the fewest issues. In particular, it seems to answer the chiral question, and eventually implies Darwinian evolution from the very beginning. Its main hypothesis needs to be validated with experimental data. CONCLUSION From this critical review it is that the concept of "pre-Darwinian evolution" appears questionable, in particular because it is unlikely if not impossible that any evolution in complexity over time may work without multiplication and heritability allowing the emergence of genetically and ecologically diverse lineages on which natural selection may operate. Only Darwinian evolution could have led to such an evolution. Thus, Pre-Darwinian evolution is not plausible according to the author. Surely, the answer to the question posed in the title is a prerequisite to the understanding of the origin of Darwinian evolution. REVIEWERS This article was reviewed by Purificacion Lopez-Garcia, Anthony Poole, Doron Lancet, and Thomas Dandekar.

中文翻译：

---

达尔文主义之前的演化合理吗？

背景技术本文着重论述了达尔文前演化的合理性的关键方面。它基于对一些较著名的，开放的，远离平衡的，基于系统的场景的严格审查，这些场景应该解释在达尔文式进化出现之前发生的过程，并导致第一批能够进行达尔文式进化的系统的产生。审查了研究人员对八个关键问题的回答。大多数研究人员声称，化学与“生物学”之间将会有进化的连续性。一个关键问题是，这种进化是如何在达尔文进化论开始之前开始的？换句话说，问题在于前达尔文主义的演化是否合理。结果介绍了所审查方案的优点和缺点。它们在新陈代谢优先，复制者优先和组合的新陈代谢复制者模型之间有所区别。新陈代谢优先的场景显示出主要问题，最糟糕的是遗传和手性。尽管复制者优先方案回答了遗传问题，但它们有自己的问题，特别是手性。在审查的新陈代谢-复制器组合模型中，一个显示的问题最少。特别是，它似乎回答了手征性问题，并最终暗示达尔文进化论从一开始就是如此。其主要假设需要通过实验数据进行验证。结论从这篇重要的评论中可以看出，“达尔文前演化”的概念值得怀疑，特别是因为如果没有乘法和遗传力就不可能随着时间的推移在复杂性上进行任何演变，而无需繁衍和遗传，就不可能出现自然选择可能在遗传和生态上多样化的世系。只有达尔文式的进化才可能导致这种进化。因此，作者认为达尔文前期的演化是不合理的。当然，标题中提出的问题的答案是理解达尔文进化论起源的前提。审阅者本文由Purificacion Lopez-Garcia，Anthony Poole，Doron Lancet和Thomas Dandekar审阅。作者认为，达尔文前期的演化是不合理的。当然，标题中提出的问题的答案是理解达尔文进化论起源的前提。审阅者本文由Purificacion Lopez-Garcia，Anthony Poole，Doron Lancet和Thomas Dandekar审阅。作者认为，达尔文前期的演化是不合理的。当然，标题中提出的问题的答案是理解达尔文进化论起源的前提。审阅者本文由Purificacion Lopez-Garcia，Anthony Poole，Doron Lancet和Thomas Dandekar审阅。