A historical and systematic survey of European perceptions of wilderness

• Verfasst von: Kirchhoff, Thomas [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Vicenzotti, Vera [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: A historical and systematic survey of European perceptions of wilderness
• Verf.angabe: Thomas Kirchhoff, Vera Vicenzotti
• E-Jahr: 2014
• Jahr: August 1, 2014
• Umfang: 22 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 25.01.2021
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Environmental values
• Ort Quelle: Cambridge : White Horse Press, 1992
• Jahr Quelle: 2014
• Band/Heft Quelle: 23(2014), 4, Seite 443-464
• ISSN Quelle: 1752-7015
• DOI: doi:10.3197/096327114X13947900181590
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1745602178

Abstract

This paper develops a historical and systematic typology of perceptions of wilderness that exist in contemporary western European cultures. After describing notions of wilderness associated with worldviews that emerged during the Enlightenment period (theological, early Enlightenment, liberalism, democratism) and as a critical response to it (Rousseauism, early Romanticism, English and German conservatism), we outline four recent transformations of these traditional notions of wilderness: wilderness as an ecological object, as a place of nature's self-reassertion, as a place of thrill and as a sphere of amorality and meaninglessness. In our conclusion, we suggest what practical relevance arises from such a nuanced understanding of the inherently ambiguous concept of wilderness.