Research Topic
Material Nature: Material Forces in Seventeenth Century Natural Law
Supervisor: Dr Jon Parkin
My project seeks to explore the way in which debates around matter and material forces arose in seventeenth century natural law. In particular, it concentrates on the Anglo-Dutch context and the works of Hugo Grotius, Lambert van Velthuysen, Samuel Parker, Richard Cumberland and John Locke. Doing so, it also seeks to argue that traditional approaches to the history of political thought, stressing the role of language and rhetoric, have overlooked the crucial role played by physical materiality. In the process, it will argue that physical concerns play a significant factor within broader intellectual history. Before coming to Oxford, I completed a Mphil at Sussex University entitled ‘Landscapes of Progress: The Place of Physical Geography in Scottish Enlightenment accounts of Stadial Theory’. The thesis highlighted the role played by the physical terrain in explanations of historical progress outlined in the work of four stadial theorists. In addition to this, I became interested in the way the Humanities disciplines engages with questions surrounding Climate Change and co-edited volume entitled: Climate Change and the Humanities: Historical, Philosophical and Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Contemporary Environmental Crises.
More broadly I am also interested in
- The relationship between environmental concerns and the History of Political Thought
- Methodological debates within Intellectual History and it’s relationship with Political Theory
- The life and career of John Locke
Publications
'Adam Smith, Natural Extraction and Historical Judgement: An Unwarranted Environmental Legacy’, international Review of Environmental History, Vol. 5, Issue 2, 2019, 115-121.
Edited Volume
Climate Change and the Humanities: Historical, Philosophical and Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Contemporary Environmental Crises, Edited by Alex Elliott, James Cullis, and Vinita Damodaran, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Book Chaptersc
Co-written with Alex Elliot, ‘The Importance of the Humanities to the Climate Change Debate’, in Climate Change and the Humanities: Historical, Philosophical and Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Contemporary Environmental Crises, Edited by Alex Elliott, James Cullis, and Vinita Damodaran, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 15-42.
I am also a keen amateur chess player