Global Warming via Hyperobjects

Notes from a professor on teaching Timothy Morton's HYPEROBJECTS.

Morton_hyperobjects coverLast month I taught an accelerated – 10 weeks of content smooshed into 2.5 weeks of time – version of Philosophy and the Environment. It’s a way for undergraduates to pick up an extra course between terms, and satisfies either a general education requirement or an elective for philosophy and environmental studies majors. Because of the short time we would spend together and the fact it was a hybrid course (i.e., we met face-to-face and had online discussions), I decided to run it as if it were more like an upper-level seminar, with a focus on one topic – global warming – and one main text – Timothy Morton’s Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World.

In a November post I mentioned I had just read the book and was looking forward to working though it again with students. That process succeeded beyond my expectations.  We had such productive discussions (both live and digital) that I couldn’t help but want to share some excerpts of the 261 contributions the group made. The students were down with this idea, so here are three discussion threads, subjected to minimal editing (mostly to preserve students’ anonymity). Individual entries are separated by a >. A pic of a nice final project can be found midway through. It’s kind of a lot, so grab a beverage and settle in.

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Published in: Environmental Critique
By: Randall Honold