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.

Keywords

Europe; history of ideas; perceptions; values; wilderness

Published in

Environmental Values
2014, Volume: 23, number: 4, pages: 443-464
Publisher: WHITE HORSE PRESS

SLU Authors

• Vicenzotti, Vera

  • Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

History of Ideas
Landscape Architecture


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/096327114X13947900181590

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/60381