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Richard Sylvan
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<h2 id="biography">Biography</h2> <p>Sylvan was born Francis Richard Routley in <a href="/facts/Levin%2c_New_Zealand/9HP06lkN">Levin</a>, New Zealand, and his early work is cited with this surname. He studied at Victoria University College of the <a href="/facts/University_of_New_Zealand/sCdASHgl">University of New Zealand</a> (now <a href="/facts/Victoria_University_of_Wellington/8QoKrMn0">Victoria University of Wellington</a>), and then <a href="/facts/Princeton_University/n3EPGHBM">Princeton University</a>, before taking positions successively at several Australian institutions, including the <a href="/facts/University_of_Sydney/AzENnAra">University of Sydney</a>. From 1971 until his death in <a href="/facts/Bali/ThlIdDeC">Bali</a>, Indonesia, he was a fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) at the <a href="/facts/Australian_National_University/fqzCfrdp">Australian National University</a> in <a href="/facts/Canberra/V2PldFRs">Canberra</a>. </p><p>Sylvan was married to the philosopher/environmentalist <a href="/facts/Val_Plumwood/omXYyC4Y">Val Routley</a> (later, Val Plumwood), with whom he worked closely for twenty years before their separation in 1982.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> After his divorce from Plumwood, he married Louise Sylvan (née Mirlin) in 1983 and adopted the last name <i>Sylvan</i> (an English word meaning "of the forest") to reflect his love of the forest and commitment to <a href="/facts/Environmentalism/hhFsXTLE">environmentalism</a>. </p><p>He died on 16 June 1996 of a <a href="/facts/Massive_heart_attack/xoGw0qcG">massive heart attack</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="work-in-logic-and-metaphysics">Work in logic and metaphysics</h2> <p>Sylvan was instrumental in the development and study of <a href="/facts/Relevance_logic/rVQufU1b">relevance logic</a>. In 1972, Sylvan (in a paper co-authored with Plumwood) proposed semantics for certain relevant logics that had been developed by American philosophers <a href="/facts/Nuel_Belnap/0rb9mR2P">Nuel Belnap</a> and <a href="/facts/Alan_Ross_Anderson/K5ARXwz8">Alan Ross Anderson</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> Together with Robert K. Meyer, Routley turned this into semantics for a large number of logical systems. </p><p>Their work in logic work helped make ANU a center for the study of <a href="/facts/Non-classical_logic/caR36T5n">non-classical logic</a> in general. Routley's work had a particular influence on <a href="/facts/Graham_Priest/ylprAkaB">Graham Priest</a>, a well-known proponent of non-classical logic; Sylvan and Priest edited a well-regarded volume on the topic.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> Priest in turn influenced Sylvan; they met in 1976 at the Australasian Association of Logic conference in Canberra at a time when Sylvan was doing novel work on <a href="/facts/Dialetheism/oLRsG78y">dialetheism</a>, the view that some contradictions are true.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> Not long after meeting Priest, and then investigating a logic capable of handling such true contradictions, Sylvan also endorsed the view.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p><p>Sylvan's studies ranged over a variety of topics in <a href="/facts/Logic/8JnpJLtt">logic</a> and the <a href="/facts/Philosophy_of_logic/1AGMNRaf">philosophy of logic</a>. He wrote important papers on <a href="/facts/Free_logic/jU1VzwIl">free logic</a>, general <a href="/facts/Modal_logic/I7uXvYYT">modal logic</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> and <a href="/facts/Natural_deduction/PPtgwoaJ">natural deduction</a> systems.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> However, much of his most important work in logic was dedicated to relevant logic, for which he authored numerous papers (both technical and expository). </p><p>From early in his career (and for many years after), Sylvan defended a sophisticated <a href="/facts/Alexius_Meinong/AIrFc5vh">Meinong</a>-inspired ontology (which he called "<a href="/facts/Noneism/hyJ5YHbQ">noneism</a>"), first presented in his 1966 paper, "Some Things Do Not Exist."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> After several more papers in the 1970s, the theory was given a book-length treatment in 1980, <i>Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> The view—also defended in recent years by Priest<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a>—utilizes a <a href="/facts/Modal_logic/I7uXvYYT">modal theory</a> including "impossible worlds" to deal with supposed objects, like the "round square." Sylvan's formulation is logically consistent, and avoids certain paradoxes associated with Meinong's original ontology; although, like many Meinongian views, it faces criticism due to its presumed ontological implausibility.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="environmental-ethics-and-politics">Environmental ethics and politics</h2> <p>Outside of logic and metaphysics, Sylvan was a proponent of so-called <a href="/facts/Deep_ecology/EdxXPV9v">deep</a> <a href="/facts/Environmental_ethics/fwhGo1n8">environmental ethics</a> in the study of environmental ethics (following shallow/deep distinction formulated by <a href="/facts/Arne_N%25C3%25A6ss/Y6GUtV1V">Arne Næss</a>). In his important 1973 paper "Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental, Ethic?",<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> 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 <a href="/facts/Deep_ecology/EdxXPV9v">deep ecology</a>, but he was in fact very critical of much of the domain.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> Further, Sylvan spoke of supporting "regulated markets without capitalism."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p><p>Beginning in the 1970s, Sylvan published several other notable articles and books on environmental ethics and issues,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> and he co-authored the 1994 book <i>The Greening of Ethics</i> with David Bennett.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a> From his work in environmental ethics, Sylvan took an interest in <a href="/facts/Anarchism/4a262gvQ">anarchism</a>, contributing an often-cited entry on the subject to <i>A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> </p><p>Over 170 boxes of Sylvan's papers can be accessed from the Fryer Library collection of The <a href="/facts/University_of_Queensland/Umrq4nJ7">University of Queensland</a> Library.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="works">Works</h2> <ul><li>1980, <a href="https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/handle/11375/14805"><i>Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond: An Investigation of Noneism and the Theory of Items</i></a>, Department of Philosophy Monograph Series #3, Canberra: Australian National University. <ul><li>Revised edition in 4 volumes:</li> <li>Eckert, M. (ed.), 2018, <i>Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond</i> (<i>The Sylvan Jungle</i>: Volume 1), with Introduction by Dominic Hyde, Cham: Springer.</li> <li>Hyde, D. (ed.), 2019, <i>Noneist Explorations I</i> (<i>The Sylvan Jungle</i>: Volume 2), Cham: Springer.</li> <li>Hyde, D. (ed.), 2020, <i>Noneist Explorations II</i> (<i>The Sylvan Jungle</i>: Volume 3), Cham: Springer.</li> <li>Weber, Z. (ed.), 2019, <i>Ultralogic as Universal?</i> (<i>The Sylvan Jungle</i>: Volume 4), Cham: Springer.</li></ul></li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Anarchism_in_Australia/53jtty1g">Anarchism in Australia</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sylvan-routley/">"Richard Sylvan [Routley</a>"] entry by Dominic Hyde, Filippo Casati, Zach Weber in the <i><a href="/facts/Stanford_Encyclopedia_of_Philosophy/LDuL5HW4">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</a></i></li> <li>Raul Corazzon. <a href="https://www.ontology.co/sylvanr.htm">"Richard Sylvan on Nonexistent Objects"</a>. with an annotated bibliography of the logical writings</li> <li><a href="https://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/list-richard-sylvan039s-works-environmental-philosophy-and-ethics">"List of Richard Sylvan's Works on Environmental Philosophy and Ethics"</a>.</li> <li>Sylvan, Richard (1994). <a href="https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/handle/11375/14487">"Sylvan's Works on Environmental Philosophy and Ethics"</a>. Ten essays available for download</li> <li><a href="https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/ajl/issue/view/568">"The Australasian Journal of Logic, Vol. 15 No. 2 (2018): Special Issue: The Philosophy of Richard Sylvan"</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Hyde, Dominic (2014). Eco-Logical Lives. The Philosophical Lives of Richard Routley/Sylvan and Val Routley/Plumwood. Cambridge: White Horse Press. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Obituary – Richard Sylvan – Obituaries Australia <a href="http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/sylvan-richard-1393" target="_blank">http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/sylvan-richard-1393</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Routley, R. and V. Routley (1972). "Semantics of First Degree Entailment", Noûs, 3: 335–359. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Priest, G., Routley, R., and Norman, J. (eds.) (1989). Paraconsistent Logic: Essays on the Inconsistent, München: Philosophia Verlag. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>See Routley, Richard and Meyer, Robert K. (1976), "Dialectical Logic, Classical Logic and the Consistency of the World", Studies in Soviet Thought 16: 1–25. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Routley, Richard (1979), "Dialectical Logic, Semantics and Metamathematics", Erkenntnis 14: 301–331. <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"Existence and identity in quantified modal logics," Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 10: 113–149 (1969) <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>"A simple natural deduction system," Logique et Analyse 12: 129–152 (1969) <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Routley, Richard (1966): "Some Things Do Not Exist". Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 7, 251–276. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Routley, Richard (1982). Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond. Ridgeview Pub Co. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Priest, Graham (2005). Towards Non-Being. The Logic and Metaphysics of Intentionality. Oxford: Clarendon. <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Maria Reicher, "Nonexistent Objects", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2006), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nonexistent-objects/" target="_blank">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nonexistent-objects/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Hyde, Dominic (2001), 'Richard (Routley) Sylvan: Writings on Logic and Metaphysics', History and Philosophy of Logic 22: 181–205. <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Routley, Richard (1973), "Is There a Need for a New, an Environmental, Ethic?", Proceedings of the XVth World Congress of Philosophy, Varna, 1: 205–10. Reprinted in Environmental Philosophy: from Animal Rights to Radical Ecology (ed. M. Zimmerman et al.), Prentice Hall: New Jersey, 1993, pp.12-21. <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Sylvan, Richard (1985), "A Critique of Deep Ecology", Discussion Papers in Environmental Philosophy #12, Department of Philosophy, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University: Canberra, 60 pages. Also in serialised form: 'A Critique of Deep Ecology, Part I', Radical Philosophy 40 (1985): 2-12; and 'A Critique of Deep Ecology, Part II', Radical Philosophy 41 (1985): 10–22. Reprinted in M. Redelift and G. Woodgate (eds), The Sociology of the Environment, Edward Elgar: London, 1994. <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Orton, David. "My Path to Left Biocentrism: Part V - Deep Ecology and Anarchism". Green Web. Retrieved 20 October 2021. <a href="http://home.ca.inter.net/~greenweb/GW72-Path.html" target="_blank">http://home.ca.inter.net/~greenweb/GW72-Path.html</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Beginning with: Routley, R., 1973. "Is there a need for a new, an environmental ethic?” Proceedings of the 15th World congress of Philosophy, vol. 1 pp. 205–10, Sophia: Sophia Press; and Routley, R. and Routley, V. (1973), "The Fight for the Forests: the Takeover of Australian Forests for Pines, Wood Chips and Intensive Forestry", Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra. Subsequently: Routley, Richard and Routley, Val (1979), "Against the Inevitability of Human Chauvinism" in K.E. Goodpaster and K.M. Sayre (eds), Ethics and the Problems of the 21st Century, Notre Dame University Press: South Bend, Indiana; Routley, R. and V. (1980), "Human Chauvinism and Environmental Ethics" in D. Mannison, M. McRobbie and R. Routley (eds), Environmental Philosophy, Department of Philosophy Monograph Series #2, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, pp. 96-189; Routley, R. and Routley, V. (1980), "Destructive Forestry in Melanesia and Australia", The Ecologist 10: 56–67; Routley, R. and Routley, V. (1985), "An Expensive Repair-Kit for Utilitarianism", Discussion Papers in Environmental Philosophy #7, Department of Philosophy, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University: Canberra, pp. 21-55; and Sylvan, R. (1994), "Mucking With Nature" in Against the Main Stream: Critical Environmental Essayes, Discussion Papers in Environmental Philosophy [sic] #20, Department of Philosophy, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University: Canberra. <a href="/wiki/Sic" target="_blank">/wiki/Sic</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>Sylvan, Richard, Bennett, David, 1994. The Greening of Ethics, Cambridge: White Horse Press. <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>Sylvan, Richard (1995). "Anarchism". in Goodwin, Robert E. and Pettit. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy. Philip. Blackwell Publishing. p. 231. <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>"Richard Sylvan Papers - Fryer Manuscripts". manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 7 May 2021. <a href="https://manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au/index.php/uqfl291" target="_blank">https://manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au/index.php/uqfl291</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>