by deep ecologists, which he conceived as misguided mysticism or irrationalism. Passmore was very skeptical about attempts to attribute intrinsic value to nature, and his preferred position was of valuing nature in terms of what it contributes to the flourishing of sentient creatures (including humans). According to William Grey of the International Society for Environmental Ethics, his "unequivocal anthropocentrism made him a reference point in the discourse of environmental ethics and many treatises in field begin with (or include) a refutation of his views". Passmore described himself as a "pessimistic humanist" who regarded neither human beings nor human societies as perfectible. Bibliography Books Reading and Remembering (1942, 1943, 1963) Talking Things Over (1945) Ralph Cudworth (1951) Hume's Intentions (1952) Philosophical Reasoning (1961) Joseph Priestley (1965) A Hundred Years of Philosophy (1957, 1968) The Perfectibility of Man (1970) Man's Responsibility for Nature (1974, 1980) Science and Its Critics (1978) The Philosophy of Teaching (1980) The Limits of Government (1981) (the 1981 Boyer Lectures) Recent Philosophers (1985) Serious Art: A Study of the Concept in All the Major Arts (1991) Memoirs of a Semi-detached Australian (1997) Select Articles "Locke and the Ethics of Belief" (1978) For a more complete list of publications see PhilPapers References External links "Papers of John Passmore" — National Library of Australia "John Passmore" — tribute from Allan Saunders (ABC Radio National transcript) "John Passmore" — Daily Telegraph obituary (Archived by Wayback Machine) "His ideas shaped public debate" — obituary by Frank Jackson in The Sydney Morning Herald "Interview with Emeritus Professor John Passmore" ANU Oral History Archive Interview conducted 17 May 1991 "Passmore, John", Max Charlesworth, A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand Bryan Magee talks to John Passmore about Hume for The Great Philosophers (1987) [at YouTube] 1914 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Australian historians 20th-century Australian philosophers 20th-century biographers 20th-century essayists 21st-century Australian historians Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Oxford Analytic philosophers Australian biographers Australian essayists Australian ethicists Australian humanists Australian male non-fiction writers Australian memoirists Australian social commentators Companions of the Order of Australia Environmental philosophers Environmental writers Epistemologists Film theorists Green thinkers Historians of philosophy Lecturers Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Ontologists People educated at Sydney Boys High School People from Manly, New South Wales Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of history Philosophers of literature Philosophers of mind Philosophers of pessimism Philosophers of