Abstract
Environmental philosophers spend considerable time drawing the divide between humans and the rest of nature. Some argue that humans and our actions are unnatural. Others allow that humans are natural, but maintain that humans are nevertheless distinct. The motivation for distinguishing humans from the rest of nature is the desire to determine what aspects of the environment should be preserved. The standard view is that we should preserve those aspects of the environment outside of humans and our influence. This paper examines the standard view by asking two questions. First, are the suggested grounds for distinguishing humans from the rest of the environment viable? Second, is such a distinction even needed for determining what to preserve? The paper concludes that debates over whether humans are natural and whether humans are unique are unhelpful when deciding what to preserve.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Avital E. and Jablonka E. (2000). Animal Traditions: Behavioral Inheritance in Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Aitken G.M. (1998). Extinction. Biology and Philosophy 13: 393–411
Brennan A. (1988). Thinking About Nature: An Investigation of Nature, Value and Ecology for the Twenty-First Century. The University of Georgia Press, Athens
Boyd R. and Silk J.B. (2000). How Humans Evolved, Second Edition. W.W. Norton & Company, New York
Callicott J.B. 1991[1998]. The Wilderness Idea Revisited: The Sustainable Development Alternative, The Environmental Professional 13: 235–247. Reprinted in: Callicott J.B. and Nelson M.P. (eds), The Great New Wilderness Debate. The University of Georgia Press. Athens, pp. 337–366.
Callicott J.B. (1996a). Benevolent Symbiosis: The Philosophy of Conservation Reconstructed”. In: Callicott J.B. and da Rocha F.J.R. (eds) Earth Summit Ethics: Toward a Reconstructive Postmodern Philosophy of Environmental Education. State University of New York, Albany, pp. 139–160
Callicott J.B. (1996b). ‘Do Deconstructive Ecology and Sociobiology Undermine Leopold’s Land Ethic?’. Environ. Ethics 18: 353–372
Clark A. (1997). Being There: Putting the Brain, Body and World Together Again. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Dawkins R. (2004). The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Wellington House
Elliot R. (1997). Faking Nature. Routledge, New York
Ehrlich P.R. (2000). Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect. Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Gould S.J. (1989). Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of Natural History. Norton, New York
Greenfield P. and Savage-Rambaugh K. 1990. Grammatical combination in Pan Paniscus: Processes of learning and invention in the evolution and development of language. In: Parker S. and Gibson K. (eds), ``Language'' and Intelligence in Monkeys and Apes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 540–578
Griffiths P.E., Stotz K. (2000). How the Mind Grows: A Developmental Perspective on the Biology of Cognition. Synthese 122: 29–51
Hettinger N, Throp B. (1999). Refocusing ecocentrism: de-emphasizing stability and defending wilderness. Environ. Ethics 21: 3–21
Katz E. (1997). The big lie: human restoration of nature. In: Katz E. (eds) Nature as Subject: Human Obligation and Natural Community. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 93–107
Lewontin R.C. 1983[2001], Gene, organism and environment, In Bendall D.S. (ed.), Evolution from Molecules to Men. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, pp. 273–285. Reprinted in: Oyama S., Griffiths P.E. and Gray R.D. (eds), Cycles of Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution. MIT Press. Cambridge, pp. 59–66
Mercader J., Panger M. and Boesch C. (2002). Excavation of chimpanzee stone tool site in the African rainforest. Science 296:1452–1455
Norton B. (1986). Epilogue. In: Norton B.G. (eds), The Preservation of Species: The Value of Biological Diversity. Princeton University Press. Princeton
Odling-Smee F., Laland K., Feldman M. (2003). Comments on Niche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Primack R. (1993). Essentials of Conservation Biology. Sinaur Associates, Sunderland, Mass
Ridley M. (1993). Evolution. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Cambridge
Rolston H., III (1989). Philosophy Gone Wild. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY
Rolston H. III 1991[1998]. The Wilderness Idea Reaffirmed, Environmental Professional 13: 371–378. Reprinted in: Callicott J.B and Nelson M.P. (eds), The Great New Wilderness Debate. Georgia University Press. Athens, pp. 367–386
Rolston H., III, (1994). Conserving Natural Value. Columbia University Press, New York
Sober E. (1980). ‘Evolution, Population Thinking, and Essentialism’. Philosophy of Science 47: 350–383
Sober E. (1986). Philosophical problems for environmentalism. In: Norton B.G. (eds), The Preservation of Species: The Value of Biological Diversity. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Sterelny K. (2003). Thought in a Hostile World: The Evolution of Human Cognition. Blackwell, Malden, MA
Tattersall I. (1998). Becoming Human. Evolution and Human Uniqueness. Harcourt Brace, New York
Taylor P.W. (1986). Respect for Nature. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Woods, M. forthcoming: Rethinking Wilderness. Broadview Press: Peterborough, ON
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank those that helped me write this paper. Brenda Baker, Megan Delehanty, Anya Plutynski, Kim Sterelny, and an anonymous referee provided valuable comments on earlier drafts. Clement Loo and Jennifer Runke were excellent research assistants. Audiences in Calgary, Salt Lake City, and Sydney provided helpful feedback. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada provided financial assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ereshefsky, M. Where the wild things are: environmental preservation and human nature. Biol Philos 22, 57–72 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9023-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9023-5