Abstract

Contemporary Wilderness scholarship has emphasized the anthropocentric utility of wilderness and largely ignored its moral significance. I argue for an environmental ethic grounded in ecological egalitarianism where the central maxim is moral attentiveness in upholding the inherent value of the wilderness itself. Mytho-poetically, wilderness expresses itself as "will-of-the-land;" it is therefore the place of absolute inherent value. Primal societies, particularly Indo-European and Native American in this study, have affirmed this "will-of-the-land" in religious devotion. Romanticism has further acknowledged the inherent worth of wilderness through aesthetic participation. The ethos born of these world views and value traditions collectively affirm a moral attentiveness in our contemporary efforts at wilderness preservation. Conceptually, wilderness preservation has suffered from anthropocentric dominion; however, in explicating the philosophical significance of wilderness solitude, I conclude that it is religious rapture in aesthetic participation that is a confirmation of the "will-of-the-land" and wild Nature's natural integrity which are intended in contemporary wilderness legislation. Thus, a wilderness praxis may be surmised to include discovery, respect, and preservation of the inherent value of wildness and wilderness. This maxim of ecological egalitarianism is facilitated through attentive participation respecting the aesthetic integrity of the land