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Nature?

Profound questions about the relationship between humans and nature have occupied philosophers, ethicists, and theologians for centuries. Today, these questions also resonate strongly within healthcare and therapeutic practice, particularly in discussions surrounding human, animal, and plant health, the One Health concept, sustainability, and the future of our planet. Perspectives have long oscillated between viewing humans and nature as separate entities and approaches that emphasize our embeddedness within natural processes. Contemporary ecological thinking increasingly recognizes that human beings are not detached observers of nature but biological organisms that form part of the broader ecosystem.

Questions concerning separation from, or integration within, nature have been explored in the writings of ancient natural philosophers, medieval monastic medicine, and contemporary philosophy and ecology. The following concepts are presented as starting points for further reflection, followed by a selection of recommended readings.

Biophilia

The term biophilia was introduced by the sociologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, who described it as a “passionate love of life and of all that is alive” (The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil, 1964).
In 1984, the sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson developed the Biophilia Hypothesis, proposing an evolutionary basis for humans’ affinity toward living systems and natural environments.
A contemporary discussion of these two distinct approaches can be found in: Barbiero, G., & Berto, R. (2021). Biophilia as Evolutionary Adaptation: An Onto- and Phylogenetic Framework for Biophilic Design. Frontiers in Psychology.

Phytophilia and Floraphilia

Phytophilia, from the Greek meaning “love of plants,” describes a particular affinity for the plant world.
One notable contribution to this topic is the diploma thesis Phytophilia: Evolutionary Effects of Natural and Artificial Green Plants in the Workplace on Human Cognitive Performance, Mood, Spatial Perception and the Stress Hormone Cortisol, submitted by Marlene Mann at the University of Vienna in 2010.
An accessible overview of current research can be found in: Willis, K. (2025). The Superpower of Plants: How Nature Improves Our Health. Berlin.

Floraphilia was also the title of an exhibition exploring the interconnections between plants, botany, and colonialism. The exhibition was presented in Cologne, the Botanical Garden of Wuppertal, Kraków, and the Botanical Garden Berlin between 2018 and 2019.

Biophilia, Floraphilia, and Bibliophilia

Biophilia—the love of living things—and, more specifically, phytophilia and floraphilia—the love of plants—often go hand in hand with bibliophilia, the love of books

Both provide compelling reasons to return repeatedly to historical herbals and botanical texts. Each reading reveals something new: overlooked connections, forgotten observations, alternative interpretations, and previously unnoticed details. Historical texts continually establish new relationships with the present.

The Roman author Pliny the Elder, for example, may be regarded as one of the earliest advocates of nature conservation when he called for the careful use of natural resources. Viewed from changing perspectives, antiquity can suddenly appear strikingly modern, while contemporary scientific viewpoints may seem more narrowly focused than expected.

Together, the library and the garden form an archive of health knowledge—one that grows through time, within time, and alongside time itself.

Recommended Reading on Bibliophilia

  • Hagner, M. (2019). The Pleasure of Books. Berlin.
  • Hawthorne, S. (2017). Bibliodiversity: A Manifesto for Independent Publishing. Berlin.

For those who wish to enrich their reading through direct sensory experience, visits to medicinal plant gardens and botanical gardens offer an opportunity to enter a multidimensional representation of medical and botanical knowledge.

Selected Reading on the Plant World and Beyond

Cultural History

  • Bynum, H. & Bynum, W. (2014). Plants and Culture: An Illustrated World History of Botany. Fröhlich & Kaufmann.
  • Göttert, K. H. (2019). When Nature Still Spoke: Humans, Animals, and Plants Before Modernity. Reclam.
  • Pavord, A. (2010). The Naming of Plants: A Cultural History of Botany. Berlin Verlag.
  • Giesecke, A., & Mabberley, D. J. (Eds.). (2022). A Cultural History of Plants (Vols. 1–6). Bloomsbury Academic, London.
  • Bühler, B., & Rieger, S. (2014). The Proliferation of Plants: A Florilegium of Knowledge (3rd ed.). Edition Suhrkamp.
  • Topiaria Helvetica: “Eat Burnet and You Won’t Die So Soon.” Garden and Health. vdf Hochschulverlag.

Philosophy

  • Coccia, E. (2018). The Roots of the World: A Philosophy of Plants. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich.
  • Böhme, G. (2019). Body: The Nature We Ourselves Are. Suhrkamp Wissenschaft.
  • Foucault, M. (2020). The Order of Things (26th ed.). Suhrkamp Wissenschaft. Ecology
  • Kimmerer, R. W. (2021). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Aufbau Verlag, Berlin.
  • Kimmerer, R. W. (2022). Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin.
  • Koechlin, F., & Battaglia, D. (2012). Mozart and the Cunning of Millet. Lenos.
  • Tsing, A. L. (2021). The Mushroom at the End of the World (5th ed.). Matthes & Seitz, Berlin.
  • Mancuso, S., & Viola, A. (2015). The Intelligence of Plants. Kunstmann.

Adapted from: Dal Cero, M. (2021). From the “Nourishing Landscape” to the “Garden of Health”: The Transmission and Networking of Medicinal Plant Knowledge. In Topiaria. vdf Hochschulverlag, Zurich.