Wilderness Recognized: Environments Free from Human Control

In this chapter, Robert Scotney argues for an alternative conception of wilderness to the so-called ‘received wilderness idea’. It defines wilderness as the kind of environment that is free from human control in the sense that it does not have human activity as its dominant shaping feature. Scotney agrees with Callicott and others that the received wilderness idea fails to reflect the reality of natural environments, and is even harmful in some of its applications. But he doesn’t agree with these critics that the objections raised against the received wilderness idea necessarily have to lead to the conclusion that the concept of wilderness should be abandoned altogether.