About Robin – Ethics and Philosophy
With a vast array of experience, Robin Attfield has written extensively on subjects including ethics, philosophy of religion, history of ideas, and environmental ethics. He is married to the writer Leela Dutt and they have three children, seven grandchildren of whom six survive, and one great-granddaughter, Zara. Robin and Leela are longstanding members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. Get in touch today by emailing attfieldr@cardiff.ac.uk or by using the contact link below.
Robin is also a keen gardener, eager to point out wild flowers and cultivated ones in other people's gardens when out on walks around the neighbourhood and much further afield. He bought a beautiful amarylis the other day... see below!
Professional Associations
Robin has held a wide array of positions on prestigious committees and councils, including:
- Emeritus Professor of the School of English, Communication, and Philosophy, and the Institute of Sustainable Places at Cardiff University
- Chair of the Cardiff and District Branch of the United Nations Association
- Former Member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy
- Former Co-Opted Member of the Executive Committee of the British Philosophical Association
- Former Chair of the Cardiff Branch of the Royal Institute of Philosophy
- Participated in a UNESCO International Working Party on Environmental Ethics
- Member of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Ethics Working Party at the Ian Ramsey Centre, St Cross College Oxford – Also Co-Edited Their Report
Research Interests
Primarily, Robin’s research concerns:
- Environmental Philosophy (Most Branches)
- Ethics (Including History of Ethics and Applied Ethics)
- History of Ideas (Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries; also, Ancient Philosophy)
- Philosophy of Religion (Religious Language, Theistic Arguments, and Panentheism)
Qualifications and Education
Robin studied Philosophy, Classics, and Ancient History at Christchurch, Oxford, and Theology at Regent’s Park College, Oxford. After undertaking research at Manchester University, he lectured in Philosophy at Cardiff University from 1968 until his retirement in 2009.
Robin completed his PhD in 1972 and has been a Professor of Philosophy since 1992. He has also taught in Nigeria and Kenya, and in 1999, he was awarded a National Research Fellowship in South Africa and addressed three universities there. Other awards include a D.Litt. from Cardiff University in 2008 for his contributions to environmental philosophy.
Foreign translations of Robin's work include a Spanish translation of OUP's Environmental Ethics: a Very Short Introduction by San Pablo Press and the Pontifical University of Spain.
Robin completed his PhD in 1972 and has been a Professor of Philosophy since 1992. He has also taught in Nigeria and Kenya, and in 1999, he was awarded a National Research Fellowship in South Africa and addressed three universities there. Other awards include a D.Litt. from Cardiff University in 2008 for his contributions to environmental philosophy.
Foreign translations of Robin's work include a Spanish translation of OUP's Environmental Ethics: a Very Short Introduction by San Pablo Press and the Pontifical University of Spain.
Specialising in Ethics and Philosophy
With an array of experience, Robin writes about philosophy and environmental ethics.