THE BIOPHILIA HYPOTHESIS, Stephen Kellert and Edward O. Wilson, editors, Island Press, 484 pages, $27.50.

Early in the history of humankind, when sheer survival depended upon a closeness and empathy for all of nature, primitive people populated the world about them with spirits inhabiting the trees, brooks, rivers and animals. People believed that a force, later termed animism, permeated nature and made humans one with the Earth.

These ancient beliefs died out with the advent of Judeo-Christian religions and the rise of civilization, but in 1988 James Lovelock revived the animistic concept with his Gaia, or Mother Earth, hypothesis; a belief that the world is “alive” in the sense that the physical and chemical reactions of the inanimate world interact with living organisms to maintain a stable, life-sustaining environment on the planet. The idea that the Earth is a single giant living organism created such a furor that Gaia overshadowed an equally controversial theory proposed by Edward O. Wilson in 1984.

In his book, “Biophilia,” Wilson proposed that humankind’s close contact with nature over millions of years of evolution programmed our genes with a need to affiliate with the rest of the living world. For Wilson, the general attraction of people for lush greenery and quiet bodies of water is a genetic instinct for food and protection, while the near universal abhorrence for snakes and spiders has nothing to do with a psychological aversion but is simply a genetic memory of the dangers they posed for our remote ancestors. Wilson also stated that much of the general malaise affecting our modern age stems from our being uprooted from nature. Skyscrapers, concrete sidewalks and superhighways are so foreign to our genetic programming, believes Wilson, that our alienation from nature has resulted in much of our physical, mental and spiritual ills.

“The Biophilia Hypothesis” is a compilation of papers by writers who support Wilson’s contention, although a lone dissenter is included, and offer proofs of its validity. Those papers that attempt to quantify what is, in effect, a semimystical concept are the least persuasive. A paper that correlates aesthetic preference for landscape scenes to an evolutionary need for refuge may prove its case to statisticians but leaves the reader unconvinced of its relationship to a genetic attraction for wooded landscapes at sunset. On the other hand, Lynn Margulis, who collaborated with Lovelock on the Gaia hypotheis, eloquently makes the case that the two theories are interconnected and, indeed, vital if the world’s biodiversity is to be saved.

The selections that best make the case for biophilia are those that appeal to the emotional rather than analytical aspects of human nature. Richard Nelson’s description of Koyukon Indian hunters deep in the forests of the Alaskan interior, and the reverence and respect they have both for their prey and nature in general, will strike a responsive cord in the most urbanized reader. Perhaps the most reasoned defense for biophilia is made by Robert Ulrich, professor of urban architecture at Texas A&M University. He points, as one example, to research showing that urban areas with trees and parks demonstrably lowers stress levels and raises positive feelings in the dwellers.

This book seems destined to become a bible of sorts to members of the “green” movement and environmental activists in general. But, if the biophilia hypothesis is only roughly true, it has immense implications for all of us and how we relate to the diversity of life surrounding us. Stephen Kellert puts it this way, “We need other species, not only for the material and physical sustenance they provide but, just as important, for the raw material they supply to our spiritual and psychological well-being.” The end message is this: We can survive physically with far fewer species on Earth but at a cost of losing much of what it means to be human. Kinship to other species is, says Wilson, an inescapable part of our genetic heritage. Extensive reading lists are provided at the end of each chapter for readers who want to pursue this fascinating concept in more depth.

Clair Wood is a science instructor at Eastern Maine Technical College and the NEWS science columnist.