Meynell, Letitia and Lopez, Andrew
(2025)
Gaia – The Earth is an Organism (Not a Darwinian Individual).
[Preprint]
Abstract
The Gaia hypothesis has been roundly criticized by a number of evolutionary biologists, who maintain that no plausible evolutionary account is compatible with the idea that the Earth is an organism. These criticisms focus on the observation that Gaia is not the kind of entity that can be
explained through evolutionary models. After all, Gaia does not belong to a population of Gaias and does not reproduce, and thus cannot evolve through natural selection. In this paper, we hope to deflate the force of such criticisms by showing that they have the wrong target. By clearly distinguishing Darwinian individuals from organisms and identifying the distinctive features of organismality, we show that the claim that Gaia is an organism does not fall prey to the criticisms commonly made. Drawing from theoretical work on holobionts we clarify how, despite not being a Darwinian individual, it is plausible to think that Gaia has features that have been shaped by natural selection.
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[img]](https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/fileicons/text.png)
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}