Gaia: Argument over a single word
THESIS: Life on earth has been considered by some as a purposeful interaction tending toward ecological stability. However, when the scientific community led by James Lovelock tried to match this concept with science, it was (and continues to be) a dilemma.
Introduction
Whenever one hears the word Gaia, he or she will also hear life, goddess, purpose, ecology, and undoubtedly controversy. Not many topics have provoked more controversy among the scientific community than the idea that the atmosphere, biosphere, and its living organisms behave as a single system, striving to maintain a stability that is conducive to the existence of life—the so-called Gaia theory or Gaia hypothesis.
The main controversy lies in the fact that the name Gaia comes from an ancient Greek goddess (Mother Earth). Since Gaia’s origins, it seems as if she was the most venerated among the Greek gods: "Free of birth or destruction, of time or space, form or condition, is the Void. From the eternal Void, Gaia danced forth and rolled herself into a spinning ball. She molded mountains along her spine, valleys in the hollows of her flesh. Unceasingly the Earth Mother manifested gifts on her surface and accepted the death into her body. In return, she was revered by all mortals. From within the darkness of her secrets, Gaia received their gifts" (Spretnak 47-48).
The powerful magnet of the theory is that Gaia is a simple four-letter word that implies feminism and ecology, two aspects that do not fit in rational science. Had the proponents called the theory "A cybernetic system with homeostatic tendencies as detected by chemical anomalies in the earth’s atmosphere—as Lovelock intended to call it," the idea may not ha...
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...cated matters (as Gaia) throughout history, and the human race has been able to decide whether or not using them is a good technique. There are truths to be discovered and ways of explaining them to be deployed.
"Humans are not the center of the universe. Nor is any other species."
Lynn Margulis
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The book draws its name from the first essay, "The Lives of a Cell," in which Thomas offers his observations on ecology and the role of cellular activity. He writes that the "uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing then its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single cell, fertilized in a bolt of lightning as the earth cooled" (3).
The Role of Women in Greek Mythology In learning about the feminist movement, we studied the three articles, discussed and reviewed the different authors perspectives on the topic, and learned how important the role of woman in Greek mythology is. In presenting the feminist theory to the class, we analyzed the three articles, Women in Ancient Greece; Women in Antiquity: New Assessments; and Women in Greek Myth, and discussed how although the three articles provided different views on Feminism in mythology, they all essentially are aiming to teach the same basic concept. In order to understand the feminist theory, we have to understand the notion that although myths are invented and that they involve fantasy, the concept of mythology does not necessarily imply that there is no truth of history in them. Some of the humans may have lived while some of the events may have taken place. Most importantly, the social customs and the way of life depicted in the myths are a valuable representation of Greek society.
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The ancient tradition and the idea of ‘Mother Earth’(Merchant 4) was coined by these indigenous peoples from pre-Hellenic times and Mesopotamian people named their goddess as ‘Ur-goddess Tiamat’(Merchant 4), Greek people named their goddess as ‘Gaia’(Merchant 5), Cerridwen named their goddess as ‘Celtic’(Merchant 4), Egyptian named their goddess as ‘Isis’(Merchant xvi). Their worship and image may vary from one tradition to another tradition but their only believe was Earth as nurturing mother. Carolyn Merchant wrote about the Historical connection between women and nature as “beneficent female who provided for the needs of mankind in an ordered, planned universe” (Merchant
Grant, Michael, and John Hazel. "Athena." Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam, 1973. Print.
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Nature Publishing Group, n.d., p. 78. Web. The Web. The Web. 25 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard SparkNotes.com - a SparkNotes.com site SparkNotes - n.d. Web.
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