Biophilia

Coined by edward o. wilson, the biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans have an “innate tendency to focus on life and life-like processes.” With “innate” meaning “hereditary and hence part of ultimate human nature,” Wilson claims a biological basis for humans' attraction to living things and to nature at large, and argues that such an affinity was selected evolutionarily; not only does being “biophilic” confer a competitive advantage, it also provides the key to our achieving meaningful and fulfilling existences. The biophilia hypothesis is rooted in sociobiology, a discipline popularized by Wilson and Richard Dawkins in the 1970s to examine the genetic bases of social behavior within different species. Sociobiology has been critiqued, perhaps most notably by Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould, for being biologically ...