Undergraduate Course: Ethical Encounters with the 'Other' in Speculative Fiction (DIVI10124)
Course Outline
| School | School of Divinity |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course investigates religious and ethical encounters with the 'other' in contemporary speculative fiction. In these texts, the 'other' tends to be represented by non-human intelligences such as AI and extra-terrestrials, but their encounters frequently reflect historic encounters between humans seeking to 'other' each other. Through these texts and their use of cognitive estrangement, we trace postcolonial, feminist, womanist, queer, and crip theories as they relate to religious and ethical concepts of human exceptionalism within different faiths and none. Weeks 2-7 constitute texts involving human-made intelligence, and weeks 8-10 cover extra-terrestrial encounters. |
| Course description |
Academic Description
This course investigates religious and ethical encounters with the 'other' in contemporary speculative fiction. In these texts, the 'other' tends to be represented by non-human intelligences such as AI and extra-terrestrials, but their encounters frequently reflect historic encounters between humans seeking to 'other' each other. The course introduces theories of cognitive estrangement and the 'novum' in speculative fiction, as described by Darko Suvin and others. It explores the ways in which the concept of human exceptionalism within four major religions and none (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, atheism/agnosticism) is troubled by alternate forms of intelligence and personhood. The course asks questions such as:
- If humans are made in the image of god, what are aliens made in the image of?
- If we are creators of advanced AI, does that make us gods over them? If they are more advanced than us, is it the other way around?
- If we can 'advance/perfect' humans through transhumanist modification, who gets to decide what is perfect/advanced? Who has access to this?
- Should nonhuman others be considered to have full personhood/rights? Who gets to decide this?
Within each of these questions lies the 'shadow question' reflecting back at us: what does this say about times in the past that humans have attempted to make similar judgements about other humans and their own rights/humanity? In addressing these questions in fiction, this course will explore shared theoretical territory between between religion and literature, religion and science, and technology and ethics. Through these texts and their use of cognitive estrangement, we also trace postcolonial, feminist, womanist, queer, and crip theories as they relate to these issues across different faiths.
Outline Content
This course begins with an introductory seminar outlining speculative fiction in literary theory, and the ethical questions that can be explored at the intersection of literature, science and religion/philosophy. It will also lay the groundwork for some of the overarching concepts for the course, e.g. trans/post-humanism, otherness, cognitive estrangement, etc. Weeks 2-7 constitute texts involving human-made intelligence, whether in the form of DNA manipulation or the creation/emergence of artificial intelligence. Weeks 8-10 cover human encounters with extra-terrestrial life, viewing these from perspectives of human exceptionism, postcolonial critique, and the ethics of missionary work. Each week focuses primarily on one particular belief or tradition: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, or atheism/agnosticism. The course ends with an overview and reflection, allowing time for essay preparation and Q&A.
Student Learning Experience
This class will consist of one two-hour seminar each week: the first hour will constitute the instructor's outlining of key themes and concepts within the set texts, and the second hour will be more discussion-based, involving close reading, debates, and sometimes group work. Students will benefit from the expertise of three lecturers located in: Religion and Literature; Buddhist Studies; and Science, Religion and Islamic Theology. They will also have the opportunity to focus on speculative fiction, a popular genre increasingly studied within the academe as a way to explore very 'real-world' questions through cognitive estrangement. Level 10 students will respond to a single text and issue in their coursework essay, and provide a more wide-ranging reflection on three texts in their final essay.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Divinity/Religious Studies courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
173 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework essay: 40%
Final essay: 60% |
| Feedback |
Instructors will provide formative feedback on final essay plans, depending on topic. Students will receive written feedback on all components of assessment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of selected speculative fiction and of its interaction with religious and ethical conceptions of the human/nonhuman other.
- Engage critically in current debates in the fields of literature & religion, and science & religion.
- Discuss the differences in the treatment of human/other in different religions and none in the fiction studied.
- Demonstrate knowledge of theoretical approaches to the genre(s) of speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy.
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Reading List
Bor, Harris. Staying Human: A Jewish Theology for the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Cascade, 2021.
Çelik, Yusuf. 'Answering Divine Love: Human Distinctiveness in the Light of Islam and Artificial Superintelligence.' Sophia, vol. 62, no. 4, 2023, pp. 679-696.
Determann, Jörg Matthias. Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life: The Culture of Astrobiology in the Muslim World. Bloomsbury, 2020.
El-Zein, Amira. Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn. Syracuse UP, 2009.
Felch, Susan M., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Religion. Cambridge UP, 2016.
Frankel, Valerie Estelle, ed. Jews in Popular Science Fiction: Marginalized in the Mainstream. Lexington Books, 2022.
Fuller, Michael, ed. Science and Religion in Western Literature: Critical and Theological Studies. Taylor & Francis Group, 2022.
Gittinger, Juli L. Personhood in Science Fiction: Religious and Philosophical Considerations. Springer International, 2019.
Graham, Elaine L, ed. Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture. Manchester UP, 2002.
Knight, Mark, ed. Routledge Companion to Religion and Literature. Routledge, 2019.
Hailes, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. U of Chicago, 1999.
Haraway, Donna. 'A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.' Manifestly Haraway, edited by Cary Wolfe, Minnesota UP, 2016, pp. 3-90.
---. Staying With the Trouble. Duke UP, 2016.
Hongladarom, Soraj. The Ethics of AI and Robotics: A Buddhist Viewpoint. Lexington Books, 2020.
Malik, Shoaib Ahmed. 'Artificial Intelligence and Islamic Thought: Two Distinctive Challenges.' Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2024, pp. 1-20.
Malik, Shoaib Ahmed and Determann, Jörg Matthias, eds. Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life: New Frontiers in Science and Religion. Bloomsbury, 2024.
McGrath, James F. Religion and Science Fiction. The Lutterworth Press, 2012.
McFarland, Lois W. Creation and Apocalypse in Feminist Speculative Fiction. Bloomsbury, forthcoming.
Sneed, Roger. The Dreamer and the Dream: Afrofuturism and Black Religious Thought. Ohio State, 2021.
Stone, Ken. 'The Garden of Eden and the Heterosexual Contract.' Bodily Citations: Religion and Judith Butler, edited by Ellen T. Armour and Susan M. St. Ville, Columbia UP, 2007, pp. 48-70.
Tilford, Nicole L. and Kelly J. Murphy, eds. Biblical Themes in Science Fiction. SBL Press, 2023.
Ward, Graham. 'How Literature Resists Secularity.' Literature & Theology, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, pp. 73-8.
Womack, Ytasha. Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture. Chicago Review Press, 2013. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Effective verbal and written communication skills
Sensitivity to diverse religious and cultural perspectives
Capability to think critically and evaluate information thoroughly
Ability to think independently, exercising critical judgement about what to include and discard in scholarly argument
Leadership and planning, organizing, and time management |
| Keywords | Speculative fiction,AI,ETI,ethics,posthumanism,exotheology,alterity |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Lois McFarland
Tel:
Email: lwilso23@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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