Robin Attfield


Robin Attfield is a British philosopher known for his work on environmental philosophy, ethics, the history of philosophy and the philosophy of religion. He is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University.
Attfield read Greats at Christ Church and theology at Regent's Park College, Oxford. He began lecturing at Cardiff in 1968, completing a PhD at the University of Wales in 1972. He was promoted to Professor in 1992, and was awarded a DLitt by Cardiff in 2008. He is a member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy; a former co-opted member of the executive committee of the British Philosophical Association; Chair of the Cardiff Branch of the Royal Institute of Philosophy; and a former member of the UNESCO working party on environmental ethics.

Select bibliography

Books authored or edited by Robin Attfield include:
  • Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the Twenty-First Century
  • Creation, Evolution and Meaning.
  • Environmental Ethics and Global Sustainability, in Henk A.M.J. ten Have, 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, Aldershot: Gregg Revivals and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1993, pp. 231,.
  • Robin Attfield, The Ethics of Environmental Concern, , 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, Values, Conflict and the Environment, 2nd edn., Aldershot: Avebury, and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1996, pp. xii + 174;.
  • Robin Attfield and Barry Wilkins, International Justice and the Third World: Essays in the Philosophy of Development, London and New York: Routledge, 1992, pp. ix + 207, ; .
  • Robin Attfield, Environmental Philosophy: Principles and Prospects, Aldershot: Avebury and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1994, pp.viii + 262;.
  • Robin Attfield and Andrew Belsey, Philosophy and the Natural Environment, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. vi + 250,.
  • Robin Attfield, Value, Obligation and Meta-Ethics, Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1995, pp. xv + 319; ; . ; ; 14-Mar-2014
  • Robin Attfield, Creation, Evolution and Meaning, Aldershot, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006, pp. ix + 234. and.
  • Robin Attfield, 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. ; .
  • Editors: Robin Attfield, Lucas Andrianos, Jan-Willem Sneep, Guillermo KerberSustainable Alternatives for Poverty Reduction and Eco-Justice: Volume 1; 1 Dec 2014 ;
  • Robin Attfield: Every Teacher a Leader: Developing and Realizing Potential 15 Dec 2007 ;
  • Ed. Robin Attfield and Barry Wilkins International Justice and the Third World: Studies in the Philosophy of Development; 1 Nov 1992;
  • Robin Attfield: Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction; 13 Dec 2018
  • Robin Attfield: Wonder, Value and God: 18 Sep 2018;
  • Robin Attfield: Environmental Thought: A Short History; 2021; Polity.
  • Robin Attfield: Applied Ethics: An Introduction; 2022; Polity.