Richard Sylvan

Environmental ethics and politics Outside of logic and metaphysics, Sylvan was a proponent of so-called deep environmental ethics in the study of environmental ethics (following shallow/deep distinction formulated by Arne Næss). In his important 1973 paper "Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental, Ethic?", he defended a then-unorthodox account of the intrinsic value of the non-human, natural world. For this he was sometimes considered a defender of deep ecology, but he was in fact very critical of much of the domain. Further, Sylvan spoke of supporting "regulated markets without capitalism."

Beginning in the 1970s, Sylvan published several other notable articles and books on environmental ethics and issues, and he co-authored the 1994 book The Greening of Ethics with David Bennett. From his work in environmental ethics, Sylvan took an interest in anarchism, contributing an often-cited entry on the subject to A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy.

Over 170 boxes of Sylvan's papers can be accessed from the Fryer Library collection of The University of Queensland Library.

Works 1980, Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond: An Investigation of Noneism and the Theory of Items, Department of Philosophy Monograph Series #3, Canberra: Australian National University. Revised edition in 4 volumes: Eckert, M. (ed.), 2018, Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond (The Sylvan Jungle: Volume 1), with Introduction by Dominic Hyde, Cham: Springer. Hyde, D. (ed.), 2019, Noneist Explorations I (The Sylvan Jungle: Volume 2), Cham: Springer. Hyde, D. (ed.), 2020, Noneist Explorations II (The Sylvan Jungle: Volume 3), Cham: Springer. Weber, Z. (ed.), 2019, Ultralogic as Universal? (The Sylvan Jungle: Volume 4), Cham: Springer.