Did life arise from non-living materials? If not, why not?

Did life arise from non-living materials? Nope, ‘course not. 

Why not?

It should be enough to say that the very idea contradicts the philosophical principle of Sufficient Reason; i.e., you cannot give what you don’t have.

However, see this article: What Caused Life to Come into Existence, by James K. Watson, for some science-level (i.e., popular science) review of the issue.

Watson's article also has a couple excellent links, like this one to a James Tour essay,

Tour's opening paragraph (highlights/colors are my own):

LIFE SHOULD NOT EXIST. This much we know from chemistry. In contrast to the ubiquity of life on earth, the lifelessness of other planets makes far better chemical sense. Synthetic chemists know what it takes to build just one molecular compound. The compound must be designed, the stereochemistry controlled. Yield optimization, purification, and characterization are needed. An elaborate supply is required to control synthesis from start to finish. None of this is easy. Few researchers from other disciplines understand how molecules are synthesized.

Tour ends this article with:

We synthetic chemists should state the obvious. The appearance of life on earth is a mystery. We are nowhere near solving this problem. The proposals offered thus far to explain life’s origin make no scientific sense.

Beyond our planet, all the others that have been probed are lifeless, a result in accord with our chemical expectations. The laws of physics and chemistry’s Periodic Table are universal, suggesting that life based upon amino acids, nucleotides, saccharides and lipids is an anomaly. Life should not exist anywhere in our universe. Life should not even exist on the surface of the earth.

This essay is, like the one below, a (if I may be forgiven) tour de force. Just magnificent. 

And here's the second JamesTour essay linked to in Watson's article:

The opening:

Why is everyone here lying?

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

LIFE REQUIRES carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. What is the chemistry behind their origin? Biologists seem to think that there are well-understood prebiotic molecular mechanisms for their synthesis. They have been grossly misinformed. And no wonder: few biologists have ever synthesized a complex molecule ab initio. If they need a molecule, they purchase molecular synthesis kits, which are, of course, designed by synthetic chemists, and which feature simplistic protocols. 

Polysaccharides? Their origin?

The synthetic chemists do not have a pathway. 

The biologists do not have a clue.

Interesting reading, to say the least.

Both of Watson's essays are simply MUST READS for anyone remotely interested in the origin of life.  If for no other reason, read them because we have a long-running – as sort of constant "elevator music" in the background of this Western Civilization High-Tech World – incessant refrain that life came into being, and can come into being, randomly. My wife likes to watch documentaries about space on YouTube, and in just about every one of 'em (that I've watched with her, and these constitute a pretty random sample), they talk up – at some point, how in the pre-biotic "soup", life randomly generated. 

Also, looking for life in space, where it would be presumed to have randomly generated (if it is ever found) is a major driver of the entire space exploration industry. 

Anyway, interesting articles here. 

An Préachán