ABSTRACT
J. Baird Callicott was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on 9 May 1941. Callicott's interest in environmental ethics grew out of his serious commitment to the discipline of philosophy. Callicott is most notably recognized as the leading interpreter of the philosophical legacy of Aldo Leopold. Callicott provided the conceptual and philosophical foundations upon which to ground Leopold's metaphysical and ethical assumptions. Callicott became one of the earliest theorists on the environmental attitudes and ethics expressed by the overlapping world-views of North American Indian societies. Callicott was also at the centre of the highly contentious debate over the concept of wilderness. Along with historian William Cronon, Callicott has argued that the concept of wilderness is a product of social construction; a product desperately in need of reconstruction. A journey through the writing and thoughts of Callicott is always insightful, always challenging, always instructive, and always a lesson in the power of sound reasoning and good writing.
