Analysing the rationality of the Gaia hypothesis.

The Gaia hypothesis is often used as the basis for demonstrating environmental integrity in current arguments within the field of ecological philosophy. However, when citing the Gaia hypothesis, people are often vague when defining its connotations and extensions. By analysing the controversies surrounding the Gaia hypothesis, we can achieve an appropriate conception of its ontology, including the blindness of the strong theoretical approach and the rationality of the weak one. Gaia's naturalistic epistemology, holistic methodology and systematic values can thus be discriminated. Gaia has strong significance for allowing human beings to understand the Earth's ecological environment and is an effective ecological holistic theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]