The Presence of Nature

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Simon P. James

   Pages 1-15

3. Our Place in Nature

   • Simon P. James

   Pages 16-37

4. Animal Minds

   • Simon P. James

   Pages 38-64

5. Nature’s Value and Other Obsessions

   • Simon P. James

   Pages 65-89

6. Why Conserve Nature?

   • Simon P. James

   Pages 90-116

7. Beyond the Human

   • Simon P. James

   Pages 117-147

8. Conclusion

   • Simon P. James

   Pages 148-155

9. Back Matter

   Pages 156-167

   PDF

Are any nonhuman animals conscious? Why, if at all, should we strive to conserve natural environments? In what sense are we parts of nature? Simon James draws on a range of philosophical and literary sources to develop original answers to these and other questions, setting out a refreshingly new approach to environmental philosophy.

• animals
• bibliography
• environment
• knowledge
• nature
• phenomenology
• philosophy
• William James

'James's philosophical exploration of the ecophenomenological landscape opens new vistas, helping us see a way through the deep thicket of ethical challenges that we denizens of the earth now face. This is an important and provocative book, and an adventure in thinking not to be missed.' - Iain Thomson, University of New Mexico

• Durham University, UK

  Simon P. James

SIMON P. JAMES has degrees in biology, history and philosophy of science and philosophy. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Durham University, UK. He is the author of Zen Buddhism and Environmental Ethics (2004) and, with David E. Cooper, Buddhism, Virtue and Environment (2005). 

Policies and ethics