Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment and Institute of Philosophy Carl von Ossietzki Universitt Oldenburg, P.O.Box 2503, Oldenburg, D-26111, Germanye-mail: george.levit@africa.geomic.uni-oldenburg.de

Abstract

James Hutton (1726-1797) regarded Earth as a super-organism and physiology thescience to study it. A strong line of evidence for an intimate relationship of biological andabiotic processes on Earth leads from Hutton to the Gaia theory of J. Lovelock. A lessknown in the West but important approach to the biosphere as a self-regulating system (thebiosphere theory) was proposed V. I. Vernadsky (1863-1945). The main concern of thispaper revolves around the question: What is the difference between Gaia and the biosphere?To approach the problem of Earth as a super-organism one can use also the biosphere theoryof V. N. Beklemishev (1890-1962), who examined the biosphere from a morphologicalviewpoint.