BioConcepts

wildernessἐρημία (gr.); heremus (lat.); contrée sauvage (fr.); Wildnis (ger.)

• A tract of land that is unmodified by humans (and esteemed for this characteristic).
  category bioethics

  c. -350 (BC)

  Οἱ δ’ἐλέφαντες ὀχεύονται μὲν ἐν ταῖς ἐρημίαις
  [Elephants also copulate in unfrequented places]

  Aristotles (c. 350 BC). Historia animalium 540a20 [Engl. transl. D.M. Balme 1991].

  c. 90 AD

  καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί· πόθεν ἡμῖν ἐν ἐρημίᾳ ἄρτοι τοσοῦτοι ὥστε χορτάσαι ὄχλον τοσοῦτον
  [And his disciples say unto him Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude]

  Matthew (c. 90 AD ): 15:33 [Engl. transl. King James Bible].

  c. 250 AD

  Finis sortis istius 'eremus' est, id est locus desertus, desertus virtutibus, desertus Deo, desertus iustitia, desertus Christo, desertus omni bono.

  Origenes (c. 250 AD) [acc. to Rufinus (c. 400 AD). In Leuiticum homiliae (CPL 0198 3A)]: 423 (Hom. 9, par. 4).
  

  373 or 374 AD

  o desertum christi floribus uernans! o solitudo, in qua illi nascuntur lapides, de quibus in apocalypsi ciuitas magni regis extruitur! o heremus familiari deo gaudens! quid agis, frater, in saeculo, qui maior es mundo?
  [O desert, bright with the flowers of Christ! O solitude whence come the stones of which, in the Apocalypse, the city of the great king is built! O wilderness, gladdened with God’s especial presence! What keeps you in the world, my brother, you who are above the world?]

  Hieronymus (373 or 374 AD). Epistula ad Heliodorum Monachum (Epistula XIV) (CPL 0620; MPL 22, 353-4) [Engl. transl. W. H. Fremantle 1892].
  

  c. 1050

  Heremus nempe est paradisus deliciarum, ubi tamquam redolentium species pigmentorum vel rutilantes flores aromatum sic fragrantia spirant odoramenta virtutum. Ibi siquidem rosae karitatis igneo rubore flammascunt, ibi lilia castitatis niveo decore candescunt, cum quibus etiam humilitatis violae, dum imis contentae sunt, nullis flatibus impelluntur, ibi myrra perfectae mortificationis exudat, et tus assiduae orationis indeficienter emanat.

  Petrus Damiani (c. 1050). Epistulae CLXXX (MGH Briefe der deutschen Kaiserzeit, ed. K. Reindel, vol. 1, 1983): 272 (epist. 28).
  

  1709

  The Wildness pleases. We seem to live alone with Nature. We view her in her inmost Recesses, and contemplate her with more Delight in these original Wilds, than in the artificial Labyrinths and Wildernesses of the Palace. The Objects of the place, the scaly Serpents, the savage Beasts, and poisonous Insects, how terrible soever, or how contrary to human Nature, are beauteous in themselves, and fit to raise our Thoughts in Admiration of that Divine Wisdom, so far superior to our short views. Unable to declare the Use or Service of all things in this Universe, we are yet assur’d of the Perfeation of all, and of the Justice of that Oeconomy, to which all things are subservient, and in respect of which, Things seemingly deform’d are amiable […].
  I shall no longer resist the Passion growing in me for Things of a natural kind, where neither Art, nor the Conceit of Caprice of Man has spoil’d that genuine Order, by altering any thing in their primitive State. Even the rude Rocks, the mossy Caverns, the irregular unwrought Grotto’s, and broken Falls of Waters, with all the horrid Graces of the Wilderness it self, as representing Nature more, will be the more engaging, and appear with a Magnificence beyond the formal Mockery of Princely Gardens.

  Cooper, A.A., Earl of Shaftesbury (1709). The Moralists, A Philosophical Rhapsody. Being a Recital of Certain Conversations upon Natural and Moral Subjects: 199-200; 205.
  

  1712

  if a Foreigner who had seen nothing of our Country should be convey’d into my Garden at his first landing, he would look upon it as a natural Wilderness, and one of the uncultivated Parts of our Country […]. There is the same Irregularity in my Plantations, which run into as great a Wildness as their Natures will permit.

  Addison, T. (1712). [Letter to the editor]. In: The Spectator No. 477 (Sept. 6), 8-13: 9.
  

  1758

  Est-ce dans une situation comme celle où je suis, dans une contrée sauvage, au milieu des bois, éloigné de quatre lieues du séjour des humains, que les objets de la belle poésie viendront se peindre à mon imagination?

  Anonymus (1758). Lettre de réponse à M. l’Abbé de ... Chanoine d’Autun. Mercure de France 1 (1758), 22-38: 37.
  

  1761

  [Description du Pays du Valais] Je gravissois lentement & à pied des sentiers assés rudes, conduit par un homme que j’avois pris pour être mon guide, & dans lequel durant toute la route j’ai trouvé plutôt un ami qu’un mercenaire. Je voulois rêver, j’en étois toujours détourné par quelque spectacle inatendu. Tantôt d’immenses roches pendoient en ruines au-dessus de ma tête. Tantôt de hautes & bruyantes cascades m’inondoient de leur épais brouillard. Tantôt un torrent éternel ouvroit à mes côtés un abîme dont les yeux n’osoient sonder la profondeur. Quelquefois je me perdois dans l’obscurité d’un bois touffu. Quelque fois en sortant d’un gouffre une agréable prairie réjouissoit tout à coup mes regards. Un mêlange étonnant de la nature sauvage & de la nature cultivée, montroit par-tout la main des hommes, où l’on eut cru qu’ils n’avoient jamais pénétré: à côté d’une caverne on trouvoit des maisons; on voyoit des pampres secs où l’on n’eut cherché que des ronces, des vignes dans des terres éboulées, d’excellens fruits sur des rochers, & des champs dans des précipices.

  Rousseau, J.J. (1761). Lettres de deux amans, habitans d’une petite ville au pied des Alpes [La nouvelle Héloïse]: 119-20 (lettre xxiii).
  

  1775

  Une contrée sauvage [Germ. original: “Eine rauhe Gegend”, 1761, p. 150] n’est pas belle; mais la nature de cette contrée peut intéresser par sa nouveauté & en même tems avoir pour l’effet de belles parties qu’on ne trouve point dans des cantons agréables.

  Hagedorn, C.L. (1775). Réflexions sur la peinture, vol. 1: 138.
  

  1775

  In einer finstern unangenehmen Wildniß wird er [scil. ein Künstler von empfindsamer Seele] einen menschenscheuen Fantasten, und in einer angenehmen schönen Wildniß lieber einen ehrwürdigen Einsiedler wohnen lassen, der die Welt verlassen hat, um der Ruhe zu genießen.

  Sulzer, J.G. (1775). Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste, vol. 2: 121 (Landschaft).
  

  1795

  dahin wollen wir fliehen, in das Thal, wohin noch kein menschlicher Fußtritt gekommen ist. Da sollst du mir und dir eine Hütte bauen. [...] Mit Widerwillen dacht ich daran, daß ich nun diese schöne Wildniß mit einer geräuschvollen Stadt vertauschen sollte

  Lafontaine, A.H.J. (1795). Klara du Plessis und Klairant. Eine Familiengeschichte französischer Emigrirten: 391-2.
  

  1832

  schauerlichschöne Wildniß

  Ritter, C. (1832). Die Erdkunde von Asien, vol. 1. Der Norden und Nord-Osten von Hoch-Asien: 985.
  

  1836

  to this cultivated state our western world is fast approaching; but nature is still predominant, and there are those who regret that with the improvements of cultivation the sublimity of the wilderness should pass away: for those scenes of solitude from which the hand of nature has never been lifted, affect the mind with a more deep toned emotion than aught which the hand of man has touched. […] And in looking over the yet uncultivated scene, the mind’s eye may see far into futurity. Where the wolf roams, the plough shall glisten; on the gray crag shall rise temple and tower—mighty deeds shall be done in the now pathless wilderness; and poets yet unborn shall sanctify the soil.

  Cole, T. (1836). Essay on American scenery. American Monthly Magazine 1, 1-12: 5; 12.
  

  1836

  Der sitzende hl. Hieronymus in der Wildniss [as the title for an engraving by A. Dürer 1512]

  Nagler, G.K. (1836). Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon, vol. 3: 532.

  1854

  Der Wald allein läßt uns Culturmenschen noch den Traum einer von der Polizeiaufsicht unberührten persönlichen Freiheit genießen. […] Nicht bloß das Waldland, auch die Sanddünen, Moore, Heiden, die Felsen- und Gletscherstriche, alle Wildniß und Wüstenei ist eine nothwendige Ergänzung zu dem cultivirten Feldland. Freuen wir uns, daß es noch so manche Wildniß in Deutschland gibt. […] Jahrhunderte lang war es eine Sache des Fortschrittes, das Recht des Feldes einseitig zu vertreten; jetzt ist es dagegen auch eine Sache des Fortschrittes, das Recht der Wildniß zu vertreten neben dem Rechte des Ackerlandes. Und wenn sich der Nationalökonom noch so sehr sträubt und empört wider diese Thatsache, so muß der Social-Politiker trotzdem beharren und kämpfen auch für das Recht der Wildniß.

  Riehl, W.H. (1854). Die Naturgeschichte des Volkes als Grundlage einer deutschen Social-Politik, vol. 1. Land und Leute: 31; 34; 40.
  

  1862

  I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil—to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. […] The West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild; and what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of the World. Every tree sends its fibers forth in search of the Wild. The cities import it at any price. Men plow and sail for it. From the forest and wilderness come the tonics and barks which brace mankind. Our ancestors were savages.

  Thoreau, D.H. (1862). Walking. Atlantic Monthly 9, 657-674.
  

  1869

  wir suchen vergebens den Wald im Walde, denn zum Wald gehören nicht bloß Bäume, sondern vor allen Dingen auch Wildniß und Freiheit.

  Riehl, W.H. (1869). Die Naturgeschichte des Volkes als Grundlage einer deutschen Social-Politik, vol. 4. Wanderbuch: 111.
  

  1879

  Bäume und Büsche umschlossen den engen Raum vor dem Felsen, dessen Rand von herabhängendem Gesträuch bekrönt war, – eine romantische Wildnis inmitten der enggescharten, verkehrswimmelnden Straßen; tiefste Einsamkeit, keine Seele weit und breit.

  Riehl, W.H. (1879). Das verlorene Paradies. In: Am Feierabend. Sechs neue Novellen (1880), 3-94: 64 (Chap. 7).

  1901

  The tendency nowadays to wander in the wilderness is delightful to see. Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little ongoings with those of Nature, and to get rid of rust and disease.

  Muir, J. (1901). Our National Parks: 1.
  

  1934

  Der unablässige Kampf soll in unserem Buche anschaulich werden, den die grüne Wildnis unserer Heimat seit Urzeiten auszufechten hat mit Wind und Wetter und mit der furchtbarsten aller Gewalten: der Hand des Menschen. […] Die Unberührtheit durch den Menschen, die Jungfräulichkeit ist hier das einzig Entscheidende. Urwald ist überall da, wo die Natur in reinem und unverfälschtem Walten allein den Ausschlag gibt, wo sie allein dem Baumwuchs die Bedingungen der Entwicklung schafft, wo sie allein alle Züge des Waldbildes bis ins Letzte und Feinste bestimmt. Einzig den Gesetzen der freien Natur gehorsam, formt der Urwald sein Antlitz und erhält sich, in gleicher Weise aus eigener Kraft sich stetig erneuernd und verjüngend, durch die Jahrtausende

  Schoenichen, W. (1934). Urwaldwildnis in deutschen Landen. Bilder vom Kampf des deutschen Menschen mit der Urlandschaft: 5; 8.
  

  1935

  Zauber der Wildnis […] solche Ausschnitte zu bevorzugen, in denen das Ursprüngliche und Urtümliche der deutschen Landschaft sich noch einigermaßen urkundetreu und unverfälscht ausdrückt.

  Schoenichen, W. (1935). Zauber der Wildnis in deutscher Heimat. Urkunden vom Wirken der Naturgewalten im Bilde der deutschen Landschaft: Title; 5.
  

  1949

  Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization. Wilderness was never a homogeneous raw material. It was very diverse, and the resulting artifacts are very diverse. These differences in the end-product are known as cultures. The rich diversity of the world’s cultures reflects a corresponding diversity in the wilds that gave birth to them. […] It is only the scholar who appreciates that all history consists of successive excursions from a single starting point, to which man returns again and again to organize yet another search for a durable scale of values. It is only the scholar who understands why the raw wilderness gives definition and meaning to the human enterprise.

  Leopold, A. (1949). A Sand County Almanac and Sketches here and there: 188; 200-1.

  1954

  Das Recht der Wildnis, die Anschauung, daß die Schöpfung dem Menschen als eine eigene Welt gleichberechtigt gegenübersteht

  Schoenichen, W. (1954). Naturschutz, Heimatschutz. Ihre Begründung durch Ernst Rudorff, Hugo Conwentz und ihre Vorläufer: 61.
  

  1964

  A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain

  Zahniser, H. (1964). Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577 (16 U.S.C. 1131-36), 88th. Cong. snd. Sess., Sept. 3, 1964.
  

  1996

  the paradox that was built into wilderness from the beginning: if nature dies because we enter it, then the only way to save nature is to kill ourselves.

  Cronon, W. (1996). The trouble with wilderness; or, getting back to the wrong nature. In: Cronon, W. (ed.). Uncommon Ground. Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, 69-90: 83.
  

  2008

  Wilderness Area […] protected areas are usually large unmodified or slightly modified areas, retaining their natural character and influence, without permanent or significant human habitation, which are protected and managed so as to preserve their natural condition.

  Dudley, N. (ed.) (2008). Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories. International Union for Conservation of Nature: 14.
  

  2010

  Wilderness Area […] Protected areas that are usually large unmodified or slightly modified areas, retaining their natural character and influence, without permanent or significant human habitation, which are protected and managed so as to preserve their natural condition.

  IUCN (2010).Category Ib: Wilderness Area (https://www.iucn.org/theme/protected-areas/about/protected-area-categories/category-ib-wilderness-area).
  

  2012

  A wilderness is an area governed by natural processes, it is composed of native habitats and species and it is large enough for the ecological functioning of natural processes and the shaping of natural structures. It is untouched, and appears to be primarily affected by the forces of nature. It is undeveloped without settlements, roads or visual disturbance. The definition includes four qualities of wilderness: a) naturalness, b) undisturbedness, c) undevelopedness and d) scale; an overarching and changing variable which by definition is central for the wilderness concept.

  European Wilderness Working Group (2012). Draft Guidelines for the Management of Wilderness and Wild Areas in Natura 2000 (European Commission): 10-1.
  

  2012

  Wild areas have a high level of predominance of natural process and natural habitat. They tend to be individually smaller and more fragmented than wilderness areas, although they often cover extensive tracts. The condition of their natural habitat, processes and relevant species is however often partially or substantially modified by human activities such as livestock herding, hunting, fishing, forestry, sport activities or general imprint of human artifacts.

  Wild Europe (2012). A Working Definition of European Wilderness and Wild Areas: 2.
  

  2015

  Wilderness […] imagines a pure and ahistorical place for Nature–natural by virtue of being untouched by human hands. It celebrates wild animals most distant from domestication. […] The imagined purity of wilderness is less significant in European conservation, where the valued baseline tends more toward the premodern than the prehistoric. Here, Nature is located in a past countryside produced through various naturalized forms of low-intensity-agriculture.

  Lorimer, J. (2015). Wildlife in the Anthropocene. Conservation after Nature: 22.