Serendipity

In volume 4.2 of Philosophy and Geography, our editorial staff faced the difŽ cult but welcome task, following our double-blind peer referring process, of selecting from among our many high quality submissions. I should have expected this welcome task, as my experience so far working at P&G has taught me to expect the unexpected. From a new interdisciplinary marriage, expect articles that genuinely re ect the rich intellectual debates of both disciplines; from the transition to a semi-annual format, expect too many high quality submissions to publish in any one volume; best of all, amongst the submissions, expect to Ž nd thematic links and a natural “Ž t” between contributors for each publication. Volume 4.2 meets all these expectations. Our lead article, “Urban Planning in the Founding of Cartesian Thought,” by Abraham Akkerman, sets the tone for this issue. Akkerman’s piece explores the geographical and intellectual con uence of Renaissance urban planning with René Descartes’s notion of “clear and distinct” ideas. Professor Akkerman’s article is a bold, suggestive, and provocative piece that nicely underscores the interdisciplinary commitments of P&G, and evidences the exciting new work that is possible from a bridging of the disciplines of philosophy and geography. In “Wind, Energy, Landscape: Reconciling Nature and Technology,” by Gordon G. Brittan Jr., Professor Brittan departs from his more traditional intellectual pursuits to offer us an aesthetic critique of contemporary wind energy devices ground in his own passionate pursuit of a life more integrated with, and respectful of, his rural Montana home. Professor Brittan is well suited to offer us this critique. Both philosopher and inventor, he has developed an alternative environmental wind energy device, the Windjammer, which satisŽ es the arguable necessity of combining clean energy, creativity, and beauty. Ben Minteer’s article, “Wilderness and the Wise Province: Benton MacKaye’s Pragmatic Vision” provides us with an account of MacKaye’s pragmatic environmental vision concerning wilderness conservation, principally through the latter’s novel and lasting contribution of the Appalachian Trail to the American environmental experience. Those who enjoyed Bill Bryson’s best-selling A Walk in the Woods (NY: Broadway Books, 1998), a celebration of a failed hike of the approximately 2,150 miles of the trail from Georgia to Maine (the exact length of the trail is a matter of some dispute), will especially Ž nd stimulating Minteer’s account of the relevance of MacKaye’s vision to contemporary environmental policy-making. Eduardo Mendieta contributes the Ž nal article in this volume, “The City and the Philosopher: On the Urbanism of Phenomen-