Exploring Meinongs Jungle and Beyond

In this first volume of The Sylvan Jungle, the editors present a scholarly edition of the first chapter, "Exploring Meinong's Jungle," of Richard Routley's 1000-plus page book, Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond. Going against the Quinean orthodoxy, Routleys aim was to support Meinongs idea that we can truthfully refer to non-existent and even impossible objects, like Superman, unicorns and the (infamous) round-square cupola on Berkeley College. The tools of non-classical logic at Routleys disposal enabled him to update Meinongs project for a new generation. This volume begins with an Introduction from Dominic Hyde, The Jungle Book in Context, an essay that situates Exploring Meinongs Jungle and Beyond historically. We provide the original Preface by Routley, followed by Chapter 1: Exploring Meinongs Jungle and Beyond. In Chapter 2, Nicholas Griffin argues that Sylvans project was insufficiently radical with his essay, Why the Original Theory of Items Didnt (Quite) Go Far Enough. Sylvan revisits his position from this time in Chapter 3, with his article, Re-Exploring Item-Theory. Filippo Casati, who has worked in the Routley Archives then takes up the question of the future of Sylvans research program in his essay, The Future Perfect of Exploring Meinongs Jungle. Iconic and iconoclastic Australian philosopher Richard Routley (n Sylvan) published Exploring Meinongs Jungle and Beyond in 1980. This work has fallen out of print, yet without great fanfare it has influenced two generations of philosophers and logicians.