Facing Gaia

The emergence of modern sciences in the seventeenth century has profoundly renewed our understanding of nature. Over the past three centuries, new ideas about nature have been continuously developed by theology, politics, economics, and science, particularly the sciences of the material world. The situation is even more unstable today, as we have entered an unparalleled ecological mutation. Some call it the Anthropocene, but it is best described as a new climatic regime. And it is indeed a new regime, as the many unexpected connections between human activity and the natural world compel each of us to rethink previous notions of nature and redistribute what was contained within them. The question that now arises is: What will replace the old perspectives on nature? This book examines a potential candidate that James Lovelock proposed when he chose the name 'Gaia' for the fragile.