The term “biophilia” was popularised by the Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson in 1984 as the title of a book, Biophilia: The Human Bond with Other Species
To him it seemed incontrovertible that we human beings have an innate sensitivity to and need for other living things, because we have coexisted in the closest relationship with the natural world for so many millennia.
He defined biophilia as:
“The connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.”
and argued that they are determined by a biological need.
Scientists now studying biophilia feel that humans have a profound need to interact with and relate to nature and the living world around them.
They are finding the restorative value of the natural world to be very forceful in recovery from sickness and in the renewal of burned-out psyches.