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Rarity and Endangerment: Why Do They Matter? (2023)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2023). Rarity and Endangerment: Why Do They Matter?. Environmental Values, https://doi.org/10.1177/09632719231171836

It is often supposed that valuable organisms are more valuable if they are rare. Likewise if they belong to endangered species. I consider what kinds of value rarity and endangerment can add in such cases. I argue that individual organisms of a valua... Read More about Rarity and Endangerment: Why Do They Matter?.

How Nature Matters: Culture, Identity, and Environmental Value (2022)
Book
James, S. P. (2022). How Nature Matters: Culture, Identity, and Environmental Value. Oxford University Press

How Nature Matters presents an original theory of nature’s value based on part–whole relations. James argues that when natural things have cultural value, they do not always have it as means to valuable ends. In many cases, they have value as parts o... Read More about How Nature Matters: Culture, Identity, and Environmental Value.

Climate Justice: Some Challenges for Buddhist Ethics (2020)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2020). Climate Justice: Some Challenges for Buddhist Ethics. Journal of Buddhist ethics, 27,

It has often been suggested that the Buddhist teachings can help us to meet the moral challenges posed by the climate crisis. This paper, by contrast, addresses some challenges the topic of climate justice presents for Buddhist ethics. Two arguments... Read More about Climate Justice: Some Challenges for Buddhist Ethics.

Legal Rights and Nature's Contributions to People: Is There a Connection? (2020)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2020). Legal Rights and Nature's Contributions to People: Is There a Connection?. Biological Conservation, 241, Article 108325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108325

It has been claimed that approaches to conservation framed in terms of nature’s contributions to people are congenial to ones framed in terms of rights. This paper provides what has so far been lacking – namely, an argument in support of this claim.... Read More about Legal Rights and Nature's Contributions to People: Is There a Connection?.

Natural Meanings and Cultural Values (2019)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2019). Natural Meanings and Cultural Values. Environmental Ethics, 41(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics20194112

In many cases, rivers, mountains, forests, and other so-called natural entities have value for us because they contribute to our well-being. According to the standard model of such value, they have instrumental or “service” value for us on account of... Read More about Natural Meanings and Cultural Values.

Madhyamaka, Metaphysical Realism and the Possibility of an Ancestral World (2018)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2018). Madhyamaka, Metaphysical Realism and the Possibility of an Ancestral World. Philosophy East and West, 68(4), 1116-1133. https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.0.0132

It is sometimes argued that metaphysical anti-realists cannot consistently affirm the evident truth that the world existed before any conscious subjects evolved. I consider how Mādhyamikas could respond, and, in so doing, clarify where Madhyamaka may... Read More about Madhyamaka, Metaphysical Realism and the Possibility of an Ancestral World.

Merleau-Ponty and Metaphysical Realism (2018)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2018). Merleau-Ponty and Metaphysical Realism. European Journal of Philosophy, 26(4), 1312-1323. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12386

Global metaphysical antirealism (or “antirealism”) is often thought to entail that the identity of each and every concrete entity in our world ultimately depends on us—on our adoption of certain social and linguistic conventions, for instance, or on... Read More about Merleau-Ponty and Metaphysical Realism.

Phenomenology and the Charge of Anthropocentrism (2016)
Book Chapter
James, S. P. (2016). Phenomenology and the Charge of Anthropocentrism. In B. Bannon (Ed.), Nature and Experience: Phenomenology and the Environment (43-52). Rowman & Littlefield

The Trouble with Environmental Values (2016)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2016). The Trouble with Environmental Values. Environmental Values, 25(2), 131-144. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327116x14552114338747

If we are to assess whether our attitudes towards nature are morally, aesthetically or in any other way appropriate or inappropriate, then we will need to know what those attitudes are. Drawing on the works of Katie McShane, Alan Holland and Christin... Read More about The Trouble with Environmental Values.

The New Greenspeak (2015)
Journal Article
James, S. (2015). The New Greenspeak. Earth Island journal, 30(1),

Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Critical Assessment (2015)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2015). Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Critical Assessment. Ethics, Policy & Environment, 18(3), 338-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/21550085.2015.1111616

This paper is about the practice of evaluating ecosystems on the basis of the cultural services they provide. My first aim is to assess the various objections that have been made to this practice. My second is to argue that when particular places are... Read More about Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Critical Assessment.

Ecosystem Services and the Value of Places (2015)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2016). Ecosystem Services and the Value of Places. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 19(1), 101-113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-015-9592-6

In the US Environmental Protection Agency, the World Wide Fund for Nature and many other environmental organisations, it is standard practice to evaluate particular woods, wetlands and other such places on the basis of the ‘ecosystem services’ they a... Read More about Ecosystem Services and the Value of Places.

Protecting Nature for the Sake of Human Beings (2015)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2016). Protecting Nature for the Sake of Human Beings. Ratio: An international journal of analytic philosophy, 29(2), 213-227. https://doi.org/10.1111/rati.12091

It is often assumed that to say that nature should be protected for the sake of human beings just is to say that it should be protected because it is a means to one or more anthropocentric ends. I argue that this assumption is false. In some contexts... Read More about Protecting Nature for the Sake of Human Beings.