The term biophilia was coined by the Harvard entomologist Edward O. Wilson (born 1929) and used in the title of his book Biophilia: The Human Bond with Other Species (1984). It comes from the Greek Βıos, "life," and ˚ıλıα, "love or affection," and means literally "love of life" or "life-loving."

Biophilia and Biodiversity

Wilson's thesis is that human beings have a deep, inbred psychological need for physical contact with a broad variety of other life forms. The concept of biophilia thus is closely linked with that of biodiversity (biological diversity). Although Wilson did not coin the term biodiversity—Walter G. Rosen did in the mid-1980s—he helped give it wide currency as editor of the 1988 book Biodiversity, the proceedings of the National Forum on Biodiversity held in Washington, DC, in 1986, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution. According to Wilson, biodiversity represents much more than a...