The Wilderness Idea Reaffirmed
—Environmental Professional 1991

“The Wilderness Idea Reaffirmed,” Environmental Professional 13 (1991): 370-377. Reprinted in Lori Gruen and Dale Jamieson, eds., Reflecting on Nature: Readings in Environmental Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 265-278. Online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/37206

The concept of wilderness is coherent and vital for the protection of intrinsic natural values. Baird Callicott's nondiscriminating account of humans as entirely natural is a metaphysical confusion. Wild nature differs from human culture in radical ways. Kinds of biodiversity can be protected by wilderness designation that are doubtfully protected by rural indigenous peoples. Nor does wilderness designation lead to complacency about sustainable development.