In one sense, which this module is intended to pursue, the relation between humankind and the universe is the ecological question writ large. Michel Serres asks in The Natural Contract, ‘Do we live within the walls of our cities or under the starry dome?’ This module explores questions of nature on a cosmic scale, examining existence and becoming in terms of relations.

In this light, the question of the relationship between the local and the global takes on a maximal aspect.

The module will treat variations relational ontology. These may include Leibniz’s account of relational time and space; A.N. Whitehead’s Process Philosophy, which he also referred to as a Cosmology; the concept of the Chaosmos as found in Gilles Deleuze’s work; Michel Serres’ ‘percolating’ time and space. The theme of ‘world memory’ within these frameworks conjoins with the extension of the theme in the module on Information and Communication. Students will be challenged to deliberate on profound questions of being and becoming inherent in these models; is it coherent to consider ‘process’ as existentially more fundamental than ‘object’, or to conceive ‘difference in itself’ as prior to difference between given terms? The aim is to address critically the relationship between humankind and nature at an ontological level.

Assessment 1. Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3.
The coursework essay is the main summative assessment. Students will have the option of formulating their own essay question to address a problem relevant to or arising from the material covered in the module and will be expected to compose a well researched, evidenced, and coherently argued essay.

Assessment 2. Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3.
This assessment will be formative. Students will be required to undertake a shorter task, such as a review of relevant secondary literature (including online resources), a critical analysis of a passage from a text, or a short video presentation on a topic covered in the module.

Assessment 3. Learning Outcome 4.
The discussion board is a vital part of the learning experience for all students. In addition to requiring students to articulate their understanding of the problems addressed by the module, it provides an opportunity for tutor-student and peer to peer feedback.

The module will be entirely Distance Learning. It will be delivered primarily via Blackboard, with additional use made of Teams and other platforms where appropriate. Each week the module tutor will provide reading and/or other material for students to address, tutor notes, and usually supplementary guidance in the form of a video or audio file. Students will be expected to read the texts set week by week, watch or listen to any supplementary material, undertake any tasks proposed by the tutor, and engage with the Discussion Board designated for the module. The emphasis will be on understanding key ideas and connecting them with real world problems. In addition to the Discussion Board, students will complete elements of formative assessment, and where appropriate these will contribute to a collective set of student-generated resources for the module (e.g. book reviews, collections of source material, analyses of significant passages of text) in order to encourage a sense of collective learning through research.

1. Describe and evaluate philosophical and scientific paradigms of the natural universe.

University Learning Outcome: 1) Knowledge and Understanding. 2) Learning

2. Explain what is involved in a scientific and philosophical speculative theory.

University Learning Outcome: 1) Knowledge and Understanding. 2) Learning

3. Engage critically in discussions relating to cosmological paradigms.

University Learning Outcome: 4) Analysis. 8) Reflection

4. Think and communicate critically and with clarity about complex problems regarding the natural universe.

University Learning Outcome: 6) Communication. 8) Reflection

Blackboard
Digital Services
Library

Indicative Texts:

Bealieu, A ‘Introduction to Deleuze's Cosmological Sensibility’. Filosofiâ i Kosmologiâ, Volume 16,¿Number 1, 2016, pp.¿199-210(12).
Deleuze, G Difference and Repetition. Continuum 2004.
Leibniz, GW The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence. Hackett Publishing, 1977.
Leibniz, GW Philosophical Essays. Hackett Publishing, 1989.
Martignon L ‘Information Theory’. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences, 2001, pp.7476-7480.
McHenry, Leemon The Event Universe: the Revisionary Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead. Edinburgh University Press, 2015.
Roberts, T ‘From Things to Events: Whitehead and the Materiality of Process’. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol 32, 6, 2014.
Serres, M The Incandescent. Bloomsbury 2018.
Whitehead, A N Process and Reality. Macmillan, 1979.
Selected papers from the journal: Philosophy and Cosmology.
Selected papers from the journal: Process Studies.

None

‘Do we live within the walls of our cities or under the starry dome?’ (Michel Serres, The Natural Contract). Are we citizens of the world or the universe as a whole? The module ‘Relational Ontology’ explores a wide variety of responses to this question and so many which feed into it: ‘in what ways are the local and the global connected?’; ‘what is the most basic stuff of space and time?’; ‘if the universe is ‘winding down’, what implications are there for the long-term future of our species?’; ‘is everything in the cosmos connected to everything else?’. The module offers an overview of responses to these questions, drawn from philosophical theories, both established and more recent, such as those of Michel Serres and A.N. Whitehead, and from classical and contemporary scientific theoretical work.