Robin Attfield is a British philosopher known for his work on

environmental philosophy Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

, the

history of philosophy The history of philosophy is the systematic study of the development of philosophical thought. It focuses on philosophy as rational inquiry based on argumentation, but some theorists also include myth, religious traditions, and proverbial lor ...

and the

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

. He is an

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of Philosophy at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. Attfield read Greats (philosophy,

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

) at Christ Church and

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Regent's Park College, Oxford Regent's Park College (known colloquially within the university as Regent's) is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford, situated in central Oxford, just off St Giles', Oxford, St Giles', England, United Kingdom. Founded in 1810 ...

. He began lecturing at Cardiff in 1968, completing a PhD at the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

in 1972. He was promoted to

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1992, and was awarded a

DLitt Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

by Cardiff in 2008. He is a member of the Council of the

Royal Institute of Philosophy The Royal Institute of Philosophy, founded in 1925, is a charitable organisation that holds and funds lectures and events on philosophical topics. It publishes two journals and offers grant programmes as part of its mission to share philosophica ...

; a former co-opted member of the executive committee of the

British Philosophical Association The British Philosophical Association (BPA) is a British organisation set up in October 2002 to promote the study of philosophy. Early history During the early 1980s the merging of educational establishments and financial cut-backs meant that so ...

; Chair of the Cardiff Branch of the

; and a former member of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

working party on

environmental ethics In environmental philosophy, environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy "which reconstructs the essential types of argumentation that can be made for protecting natural entities and the sustainable use of natural resourc ...

Select bibliography

Books authored or edited by Robin Attfield include: * ''Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the Twenty-First Century'' (Polity-Blackwell, 2003; 2nd Ed 2014-03-31) * ''Creation, Evolution and Meaning'' (Ashgate, 2006). * ''Environmental Ethics and Global Sustainability'', in Henk A.M.J. ten Have (ed.), ''Environmental Ethics and International Policy'', Paris: UNESCO, 2006, 69–87, ; * Robin Attfield, ''God and The Secular: A Philosophical Assessment of Secular Reasoning from Bacon to Kant'' (2nd edn.), Aldershot: Gregg Revivals and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1993, pp. 231, . * Robin Attfield, ''The Ethics of Environmental Concern'', (2nd. edn., 31 Aug. 1991) , translated into Korean by Seunghoe Koo, Seoul: Earth Love Publications, 1997, pp. 377, . * Robin Attfield, ''A Theory of Value and Obligation'', London, Sydney, New York: Croom Helm, 1987, pp. x + 262, . * Robin Attfield and Katharine Dell (eds.), ''Values, Conflict and the Environment'' (Report of the environmental ethics interdisciplinary Working Party of the Ian Ramsey Centre, St. Cross College, Oxford), 2nd edn., Aldershot: Avebury, and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1996, pp. xii + 174; . * Robin Attfield and Barry Wilkins (eds.), ''International Justice and the Third World: Essays in the Philosophy of Development'', London and New York: Routledge, 1992, pp. ix + 207, (hb); (pb). * Robin Attfield, ''Environmental Philosophy: Principles and Prospects'', Aldershot: Avebury and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1994(i), pp.viii + 262; . * Robin Attfield and Andrew Belsey (eds.), ''Philosophy and the Natural Environment'' (also published as Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 36), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994(ii), pp. vi + 250, . * Robin Attfield, ''Value, Obligation and Meta-Ethics'', Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1995, pp. xv + 319; (hb); (pb). (Republished * Robin Attfield, ''The Ethics of the Global Environment'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999, in the World Ethics Series edited by Nigel Dower, pp. viii + 232, ; also West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999, . * Robin Attfield, ''Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the Twenty-First Century'', Polity Press, Cambridge, and Blackwell, Malden, MA, 2003, pp. xii + 232. (hb); (pb); (2nd Edn) 14-Mar-2014 * Robin Attfield, ''Creation, Evolution and Meaning'', Aldershot, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006, pp. ix + 234. and . (Also an e-book) * Robin Attfield (ed.), ''The Ethics of the Environment'', Farnham, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008, pp. xxx + 620, . * Robin Attfield, ''Ethics: An Overview'', London and New York: Continuum/Bloomsbury, 2012, pp. xii + 262. (hb); (pb). (Also an e-book) * Editors: Robin Attfield, Lucas Andrianos, Jan-Willem Sneep, Guillermo Kerber''Sustainable Alternatives for Poverty Reduction and Eco-Justice: Volume 1''; 1 Dec 2014 (hb); * Robin Attfield: ''Every Teacher a Leader: Developing and Realizing Potential'' 15 Dec 2007 (pb); * Ed. Robin Attfield and Barry Wilkins ''International Justice and the Third World: Studies in the Philosophy of Development''; 1 Nov 1992; (pb) * Robin Attfield: ''Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction''; 13 Dec 2018 (pb) * Robin Attfield: ''Wonder, Value and God'': 18 Sep 2018; (pb) * Robin Attfield: ''Environmental Thought: A Short History''; 2021;

Polity A polity is a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of political Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any group of people org ...

. * Robin Attfield: ''Applied Ethics: An Introduction''; 2022; Polity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attfield, Robin Academics of Cardiff University Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Alumni of Regent's Park College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Wales Environmental ethicists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) British ethicists British philosophers of religion British historians of philosophy Environmental philosophers