ABSTRACT
Here, the justice of rewilding is addressed by advocating for human attitudes to be further developed, arguing that cultivating virtuous behavior can be part of a fair deal. Which attitudes may be considered virtuous in order to regenerate wildlife? Environmental virtue ethics offers several proposals, such as humility, solidarity, reverence, and compassion. The latter will be explored in more detail, given the growing literature connecting rewilding with a compassionate attitude. Compassion, considered the “fourth C” of the rewilding rule, could help to mitigate the trade-offs of prioritizing some species over others, in order to better care for vulnerable individuals, and to find less violent methods for managing invasive species. Environmental virtues might improve the co-existence of humans with nonhumans. Additionally, they might contribute to improved personal well-being and consequently, kinder relations between humans. While focusing on attitudes may seem more an issue of ethics than justice, this chapter aims to demonstrate why virtues are in fact fundamental to justice.
