James.cullis@chch.ox.ac.uk 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 physical 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, Thomas Hobbes, Richard Cumberland,Samuel Parker 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 matteriality. 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 History and Intellectual History
- Methodological debates within Intellectual History and it’s relationship with Political Theory
- History of Science
Publications
Articles:
'Adam Smith, Natural Extraction and Historical Judgement: An Unwarranted Environmental Legacy’, international Review of Environmental History, Vol. 5, Issue 2, 2019, 115-121.
Edited Volumes:
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 Chapters:
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
