The Scholastic Philosophy of the Wilderness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4222684 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Axtell (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1972 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 335 |
| Publication date | 1972-07-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The William and Mary Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-5597 • E-ISSN: 1933-7698 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1923869 |
| OpenAlex | W2324419460 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
cc -N the beginning, John Locke had written, the World was IAmerica. There was no money, no unlimited accumulation of property, and consequently no need for elaborate institutions of government to control human greed. Eminently sociable and peaceloving, men in the state of nature lived according to reason, without a common Superior on Earth, with Authority to judge between them.' When it appeared in i690 Locke's picture of the natural condition must have seemed to many Englishmen-whigs at least-a superb blend of historical observation and philosophical acuity. But to three generations of New English colonists it would have appeared overdrawn and dolefully optimistic. For to them primitive New England had not been a natural paradise of Peace, Good Will, Mutual Assistance, and Preservation, but rather a State of Enmity, Malice, Violence, and Mutual Destruction, a living hell ignited by its barbarous inhabitants.2 The Indians threatened to push them into the sea, and nearly succeeded on several occasions, but the threat of physical annihilation was never so alarming to English sensibilities-perhaps because they were blinded to the possibility by their supreme righteousness-as the Indian himself. To the English he stood proudly and defiantly against all that they stood for, all that was good and Christian and civilized. The Indian, in their lights, was immoral, pagan, and barbarous. So, characteristically, they tried to remake him in their own image through the time-honored but formal institutions of English education-the church, the school, and the college. Needless to say, they failed miserably.8
Biology · Sociology · Wilderness · American Environmental and Regional History · Ecology · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · History · Outdoor and Experiential Education
| Citations per year | 0.04 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1974 - 2018 (45) |
| Highly cited | No |