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Outputs (31)

Against Relational Value (2022)
Journal Article

In some environmental circles, talk of relational values is very much in fashion. It is said that we must think in terms of such values if we are to understand how such things as canyons, mangroves, and coral reefs matter to people. But that is bad a... Read More about Against Relational Value.

Nature's Indifference (2019)
Journal Article

Contrary to what writers such as Hans Jonas and Val Plumwood suggest, much of nature is indifferent to human interests. Mountains, glaciers, sun-baked salt pans—such entities care neither about what interests us humans nor about what is objectively i... Read More about Nature's Indifference.

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.

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.

“Nothing Truly Wild is Unclean”: Muir, Misanthropy, and the Aesthetics of Dirt (2014)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2014). “Nothing Truly Wild is Unclean”: Muir, Misanthropy, and the Aesthetics of Dirt. Environmental Ethics, 36(3), 357-363. https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics201436335

For John Muir, nothing truly wild is unclean. Dirtiness is the result of human influence. Muir’s view finds an echo in the works of those writers, such as Robinson Jeffers, who regard urban environments as wild places that have, over time, become inc... Read More about “Nothing Truly Wild is Unclean”: Muir, Misanthropy, and the Aesthetics of Dirt.

Finding - and Failing to Find - Meaning in Nature (2013)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2013). Finding - and Failing to Find - Meaning in Nature. Environmental Values, 22(5), 609-625. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327113x13745164553833

This paper is about how we should evaluate our tendencies to find - or fail to find - different meanings in the natural world. It has three aims: (1) to show that some virtues and vices can be exhibited in our tendencies to find or to overlook the me... Read More about Finding - and Failing to Find - Meaning in Nature.

Philistinism and the Preservation of Nature (2013)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2013). Philistinism and the Preservation of Nature. Philosophy, 88(1), 101-114. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031819112000575

It is clear that natural entities can be preserved – they can be preserved because they can be harmed or destroyed, or in various other ways adversely affected. I argue that in light of the rise of scientism and other forms of philistinism, the polit... Read More about Philistinism and the Preservation of Nature.

Phenomenology and the Problem of Animal Minds (2009)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2009). Phenomenology and the Problem of Animal Minds. Environmental Values, 18(1), 33-49. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327109x404735

Attempts to determine whether nonhuman animals have minds are often thought to raise a particular sceptical concern; I call it the problem of animal minds. If there are such things as animal minds, the sceptic reasons, they will be private realms to... Read More about Phenomenology and the Problem of Animal Minds.

Merleau-Ponty, Metaphysical Realism and the Natural World (2007)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2007). Merleau-Ponty, Metaphysical Realism and the Natural World. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 15(4), 501-519. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672550701654917

Environmental thinkers often suppose that the natural world (or some parts of it, at least) exists in its own right, independent of human concerns. The arguments developed in this paper suggest that it is possible to do justice to this thought withou... Read More about Merleau-Ponty, Metaphysical Realism and the Natural World.

Human Virtues and Natural Values (2006)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2006). Human Virtues and Natural Values. Environmental Ethics, 28(4), 339-354

In several works, Holmes Rolston III has argued that a satisfactory environmental ethic cannot be built on a virtue ethical foundation. His first argument amounts to the charge that because virtue ethics is by nature 'self-centred' or egoistic it is... Read More about Human Virtues and Natural Values.

‘Buddhism and the Ethics of Species Conservation’ (2006)
Journal Article
James Simon, P. (2006). ‘Buddhism and the Ethics of Species Conservation’. Environmental Values, 15(1), 85-97. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327106776678942

Efforts to conserve endangered species of animal are, in some important respects, at odds with Buddhist ethics. On the one hand, being abstract entities, species cannot suffer, and so cannot be proper objects of compassion or similar moral virtues. O... Read More about ‘Buddhism and the Ethics of Species Conservation’.

Zen Buddhism and the Intrinsic Value of Nature (2003)
Journal Article
James, S. P. (2003). Zen Buddhism and the Intrinsic Value of Nature. Contemporary Buddhism, 4(2), 143-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/1463994032000162965

Part I It is a perennial theme in the literature on environmental ethics that the exploitation of the environment is the result of a blindness to (or perhaps a refusal to recognize) the intrinsic value of natural beings. The general story here is tha... Read More about Zen Buddhism and the Intrinsic Value of Nature.