The first sustained study of Leopold's seminal book as well as a work of art, philosophy, and social commentary.

The first sustained study of Leopold's seminal book as well as a work of art, philosophy, and social commentary.

The first sustained study of Leopold's seminal book as well as a work of art, philosophy, and social commentary.

First published in 1949 and praised in The New York Times Book Review as "full of beauty and vigor and bite," A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with a call for changing our understanding of land management.

With this book, published more than a half-century ago, Aldo Leopold created the discipline of wildlife management. Although A Sand Country Almanac is doubtless Leopold’s most popular book, Game Management may well be his most important. In this book he revolutionized the field of conservation.

In Defense of the Land Ethic: Essays in Environmental Philosophy brings into a single volume J. Baird Callicott’s decade-long effort to articulate, defend, and extend the seminal environmental philosophy of Aldo Leopold. A leading voice in this new field, Callicott sounds the depths of the proverbial iceberg, the tip of which is “The Land Ethic.” “The Land Ethic,” Callicott argues, is traceable to the moral psychology of David Hume and Charles Darwin’s classical account of the origin and evolution of Hume’s moral sentiments. Leopold adds an ecological vision of organic nature to these foundations. How can an evolutionary and ecological environmental ethic bridge the gap between is and ought? How may wholes—species, ecosystems, and the biosphere itself—be the direct objects of moral concern? How may the intrinsic value of nonhuman natural entities and nature as a whole be justified? In addition to confronting and resolving these distinctly philosophical queries, Callicott engages in lively debate with proponents of animal liberation and rights—finally to achieve an integrated theory of animal welfare and environmental ethics. He critically discusses the land ethic that is alleged to have prevailed among traditional American Indian peoples and points toward a new and equally revolutionary environmental aesthetic.

In Aldo Leopold and an Ecological Conscience ecologists, wildlife biologists, and other professional conservationists explore the ecological legacy of Aldo Leopold and his A Sand County Almanac and his contributions to the environmental movement, the philosophy of science, and natural resource management. Twelve personal essays describe the enormous impact he has had on each author, from influencing the daily operations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the creation of a land-use ethics guide for Forest Service personnel, to much needed inspiration for continuing on in today's large, complex and often problematic world of science. Here is Aldo Leopold as a mentor, friend, and companion and an affirmation of his hope that science will continue to be practiced in the cause of conservation.