Staff

Dr Simon Paul James, BSc, MA, PhD

Senior Lecturer/Chair DEC/Acting Admissions Tutor in the Department of Philosophy

Member of Durham CELLS (Centre for Ethics, Law and the Life Sciences)

Biography

I came to philosophy by a roundabout route, taking a BSc in Biological Sciences, followed by an MA in the History and Philosophy of Science, before obtaining a PhD for a thesis on environmental ethics in 2001.

My work engages with a wide range of issues in environmental philosophy, from Buddhist approaches to wildlife conservation to our moral relations with rock formations, and from the (so-called) problem of animal minds to the virtue ethical question of whether a good life must be a green life.

In my spare time, I enjoy playing slide guitar and (with my wife, Helen) hiking in wild (or fairly wild) places.

Undergraduate Teaching

Research Groups

Applied Phenomenology

Selected Publications

1: James, Simon P. (2014). Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction. Polity.
2: James, Simon P. (2013). Why Old Things Matter. Journal of Moral Philosophy
3: James, Simon P. (2013). Philistinism and the Preservation of Nature. Philosophy 88(343): 101-114.
4: James, Simon P (2013). Finding - and Failing to Find - Meaning in Nature. Environmental Values
5: James, Simon P (2013). Buddhism and Environmental Ethics. In A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell.
6: James, Simon P. (2012). Conserving Nature's Meanings. In Embodied Values and the Environment. Brady, E. & Phemister, P. Springer.
7: James, Simon P. (2011). For the Sake of a Stone? Inanimate Things and the Demands of Morality. Inquiry 54(4): 384-397.
8: James, Simon. (2009). The Presence of Nature: A Study in Phenomenology and Environmental Philosophy. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
9: James, Simon P. (2009). Phenomenology and the Problem of Animal Minds. Environmental Values 18(1): 33-49.
12: James, Simon P. & Cooper, David E. (2008). Buddhism and the Environment. Contemporary Buddhism, 8 (2): Taylor and Francis.
13: James, Simon P. (2007). Against Holism: Rethinking Buddhist Environmental Ethics. Environmental Values 16.
14: James, Simon P. (2007). Merleau-Ponty, Metaphysical Realism and the Natural World.*. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 15(4): 501-519.
15: James Simon P. (2006). ‘Buddhism and the Ethics of Species Conservation’. Environmental Values 15(1): 85-97.
16: James, Simon P. (2006). Human Virtues and Natural Values. Environmental Ethics 28(4): 339-354.
18: Cooper, David E. & James, Simon P. (2005). Buddhism, Virtue and Environment. Aldershot: Ashgate.
20: James, Simon P. (2004). Zen Buddhism and Environmental Ethics. Aldershot: Ashgate.

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Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

Ethics: Environmental ethics
Philosophy: Environmental ethics
Religion: Environmental ethics
Education & awareness: Environmental ethics