Month: January 2011

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

Is it Right for an Editor to Have so Much Influential Power?

In my project I aim to discuss whether or not individuals have too much power when it comes to the media and journalism. I will look particularly into the jobs of the editors and owners. I will do this by investigating several case studies including the 1992 general election that Murdoch believed was won due to The Sun’s Headline: “If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights”

I will mainly be focusing on John Stuart Mill’s novel On Liberty. Mill focused on freedom of speech, believing that no matter what position or job you have in society you should always be allowed to have your own opinions. However, he also believes that individuals should not spread their opinion if it will be harmful to others. I will be looking into and analysing both of these claims.

I will also be studying Dale Jacquette’s novel Journalistic Ethics: Moral Responsibility in the Media, Heinz Steinert’s novel Culture Industry, and Political Freedom (Problems of Philosophy) by George G. Brenkert, along with many others. As well as Mill I will be critically analysing Debord’s work on the media and comparing it to other philosophers.
Overall I aim to come to a conclusion about whether or not the editors and owners of newspapers have the right to print fabricated stories, whether the facts are true or whether they are lies.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

The Means-End Mindset of Modernity and Beyond: How Capitalism is devaluing the Education System

This project serves to assess the contemporary situation that education finds itself in within our Western Capitalistic society, before analysing the makeup of Capitalism itself. This will provide the platform for an attack on the system, where arguments will made critiquing Capitalism’s inherent characteristics; the characteristics that quash out independent thought, rational judgement and wisdom in favour of ticking boxes and tangible exam results. Education’s value as a nurturer has been lost: it has morphed into a tool for gain rather than an intrinsic virtue that has value in and of itself. The subtle and deep-rooted power systems that Capitalism makes inevitable are the cause of this.

‘Browne Report’ Lord Browne’s report on Higher Education will provide the context for this project. The report is indicative of attitudes towards education as a means, rather than an end in itself.

Marx’s ‘Communist Manifesto’ The father of communism will be used to outline the inherent flaws of Capitalism in terms of private property and the free market and how these affect education.

Gadamer’s ‘Treatment and Dialogue’ This hermeneutical thinker’s arguments regarding the nature of intelligence will be assessed and made relevant to the situation that education finds itself in today. Contemporarily, our education system marginalizes traditional concepts of wisdom so that independent thought becomes devalued.

Foucault’s ‘Discipline and Punish’ The climax of this critique will come with Foucault and his advocacy that, though less obvious, brutal and violent than the past, we are subject to deep-rooted power systems within the West that indirectly control our desires and actions. These affirmations will be used to highlight education’s impartiality – and the deeper consequences the way we are taught has on society as a whole.

Today, we are a docile nation with a docile mind-set. This needs to stop: education is the cause; education is the cure.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Singularity, Freedom & Chaos: Sartre’s Philosophy in a Backwards Universe

The object of my project is the premise behind Machine of Death, an anthology of stories about a world where people can know in advance how they will die.

The aim of my project is to establish the nature of existence as singular, through an examination of Jean-Paul Sartre’s ontological work Being and Nothingness in tandem with the collection of stories presented in Machine of Death. The question is: what is ‘singular’ existence in Sartre’s philosophy? What does it entail? And what are its implications for human existence, freedom and responsibility?

The thesis behind this endeavour is that, by examining the ontological status of the world found in Machine of Death in light of Sartre’s philosophy, we can both establish answers to these questions and open up for ourselves a new possibility; the possibility of conceiving of an existence whose fundamental state is not a stable mode of Being, but patterns of organisation in a sea of fundamental differentiation and chaos. In so doing, we point ourselves towards a new ontology: the ontology of Deleuze in Difference and Repetition.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

Does the Revived Television Series “Doctor Who” (2005-Present) Provide a Positive Interpretation of Nietzsche’s Moral Philosophy?

“God is Dead”

Stephen Hawking stated in “The Grand Design” (2010) that “philosophy is dead”, and certainly as far as furthering our understanding of the physical nature of the Universe, that job seems much better suited to physicists than Priests and Theologians. However this increasingly empiricist attitude of society has lead to a crisis of values and an onset of nihilism.

It’s my opinion that of all the philosophers I’ve studied Friedrich Nietzsche, despite dying over a Century ago, grasps and provides the most convincing answer to the potentially valueless existence we face today. Nietzsche’s answer isn’t a normative one however but is in need of personal study and analysis by all who seek to learn something from it.

Go Beyond Good and Evil by journeying through time and Space

I’ve chosen to use “Doctor Who” (2005-present) as a way of interpreting and critiquing Nietzsche’s moral philosophy.

I feel I’m justified in this comparison given the immensely positive critical reception of this series which is often praised for being innovative and challenging, recently being described as a show that: “makes your mind work…” by the site www.avtoday.co.uk.

And Crucially the head producers Russell T Davies and Stephen Moffat have not only got a reputation for exploring deep philosophical issues with their dramas in a way that often borders on the unnerving, but both their runs of “Doctor Who” have been characterized by an undeniably existentialist and atheistic edge. Going so far as to pit the protagonist against the devil itself!

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

Poverty: How to Solve It, Capitalism or Communism?

Aims:
– Personal work on an issue that interests me
– An issue that relates to possible career path
– Increase understanding of poverty
– Look into solving poverty
– Seeing whether the systems we live by are moral
– Questioning the status quo of my society

Grounding:
– Economist Paul Collier, author of background book
– Marx, philosopher and sociologist, author of Communist manifesto

Outcome:
Capitalism is the answer to solving poverty, communism is not applicable, nor desired, it cannot come into being without capitalism. In order to alleviate world poverty, capitalist society must embrace the third world into our bosom, aid, investment, trade, military intervention and laws, will elevate the third world out of poverty.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Linking Heidegger’s Essay The Question Concerning Technology to the Changes of Technology within Football from the 1960s to the Present Day

The aim of my project is to link Heidegger’s essay The Question Concerning Technology to the changes of technology within football from the 1960s to the present day.

From watching the 1966 World Cup Final, England vs. West Germany and the 2010 Tyne-Wear Derby, Newcastle United vs. Sunderland, and also with the use of some useful websites, I would be able to highlight the changes of technology within football. These are the six changes of technology within football which I have highlighted:

1. Picture Quality/Display
2. Replays
3. Capturing of the Game play/Emotions
4. Football boots
5. The Football
6. Co-commentary/Audio

I will explain Heidegger’s essay The Question Concerning Technology from his book The Questioning Concerning Technology, and relate the changes of technology within football to the relevant parts of his theory.

A few examples of linking Heidegger’s theory to the changes of technology within football

– Heidegger talks about how modern technology reveals but also challenges, and I linked this to the development in the replays from the 1960s to today in the use of different camera angles which reveals more of what just happened, e.g. of a goal scored or challenging a decision made by the referee.
– Heidegger talks about how nature’s energy has become a standing reserve and how nature is now a resource of technological exploitation. As well, we ourselves are situated in the standing reserve as human resources. I linked this to the development in camera angles in capturing more emotions in football today than in the 1960s, therefore making football more of a standing reserve. Why? More is revealed (captured) in the match for the television audience.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Philosophy Behind Recession: a Study of Contemporary Economics Through Philosophy

An investigation on how the US reached a destination of an estimated 200 trillion in debt. How is it that America can possibly be named the Land of the Free? In a country with a constitution claiming ‘all men are created equal’; why is it that 15% of the population live below the poverty line? Can the ‘poster boy’ of Capitalism be considered moral? The USA is an economic powerhouse with an annual GDP of 14.6 trillion dollars. However, 42% of $14.6 Trillion is controlled by just under 1% of the population.

I intend to investigate the evolution of the global capitalist economy and its current state of disarray. Marxist rhetoric will serve, amongst several thinkers such as Engels, Machiavelli, Ayn Rand, Sun Tzu and Emmanuel Levinas in investigating the evolution of the US Capitalist system.
Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, a damning indictment of corporate America, will be used as the cornerstone for my arguments against big business and the ever widening gulf between the rich and the poor.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

Safe as Houses? Public versus Private: a Philosophical Look into Housing in Britain Compared with that Found in Denmark

My project is an investigation into the housing market and provision in Great Britain and whether its needs alteration and if so what and how. This is done by direct comparison to Danish Housing provision.

I will be looking into the current system in Britain whilst referring to three economic philosophers: Marx, Keynes and Freidman. I will also consider whether our system is satisfactory and just. In addition, I will focus on the positives and negatives of a housing economy compared with Government provision.

I took sources from the people affected by private investment housing: the tenants of the Duke of Devonshire.

In interviewed those in council housing and those who owned privately.

I also looked into Government rental documents and the statistics in the private housing market in the Estate Agent ‘Savills’ review

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Violence Vindicated: Can Violence as a Means of Protest Be Justified?

The recent surge in protest activity both nationally and internationally and the inclusion of violent means within these protests opens up a debate as to whether a violent protest can ever be justified. The aim of my project is to explore the possibility of a justification of violence; my context is therefore that of ethics, politics and law. Through the method of axiological critique, I intend to consider the value of violence and whether it is applicable in a protest situation. As protest is generally a part of the political realm it is a political justification of violence that I aim to find. The main philosophical theories that are engaged with in the project are theories which closely explore the notions of protest and violence and are therefore extremely relevant. They are:

– The Just War Theory 
– John Rawls’ Theory of Civil Disobedience 
– Sartre’s discussion of violence 
– Foucault’s discussion of resistance

With regards to the Just War theory, I aim to establish whether the principles which already justify violence in war can justify violence in a protest. An exploration of John Rawls’ Civil Disobedience argues the case for non-violent means of protest. In contrast, Sartre’s discussion of violence considers the necessity of violence as a form of protest. Exploring violent protest in relation to Foucault means considering his views on resistance and power.

Ultimately, I hope to reach a credible conclusion as to whether violence can be proven to be a justified means of protest using the support of political philosophical theories.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

Nietzsche & Models of Self-Help in Contemporary Britain

The aim: To develop a project that looked at why Britain’s happiness on the whole is in decline.

Methodology: To compare contemporary attitudes with those of the 1950’s. Is the definition of depression still the same? An examination of self-help guides. What do these manuals claim will make us happier?

Thinkers: Oliver James – A clinical psychologist and writer. His primary thoughts indicate that our relatively new ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ attitude is what is leading us to emotional distress. Nietzsche – Christianity only provides us with a sense of guilt; Buddhism is a better religion to follow.

Conclusion: Guides can provide us with a renewed sense of cheerfulness on the whole. Yet, it is important to be aware that although they have the ability to make us happy for a short period of time, they most certainly cannot cure us from anything more serious than an episode of the blues.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

Is Depression a Disease and/or a Philosophical Undertaking?

Depression is often negatively viewed by society. I aim to assess whether it is accurate that we simply class depression as a medical mental disorder or whether it should be given a new definition that gives depression a positive outlook. Depression can allow the suffering individual to undertake a philosophical journey where they are able to question, analyse and possibly reassess their lives and morals.

Questioning whether depression is just a disease or a philosophical undertaking (or both) is contemporarily relevant and relevant in history for it has affected some great thinkers who have gone on to produce major works, such as John Stuart Mill’s ‘On liberty’ that was written out of his depression, that have helped form modern society. When I question whether depression is a philosophical undertaking, what I mean by this is whether a depression can promote types of innovative thoughts (political, social and individual thoughts) that can be acted upon or written about that would not have occurred in a person who has not suffered a period of depression, like a ‘phoenix from the flame’. It is relevant to study due to the increase of diagnosed sufferers and the effects it can have on the individual and on society. I want to assess what depression is, whether it can produce innovation within the individual and, if it does cause innovative genius, whether it should, in some cases, be encouraged.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Féiniúlacht, Teanga agus Cultúr: Identity, Language and Culture in Ireland

The trinity of identity, language and culture have always been one of my fascinations. This interest stems from the fact I myself am descended from bilingual Gaelic speaking Irish immigrants, and growing up in North-East England, I am fully familiar with an English dialect barely comprehensible by most native English speakers taken in its purest form.

Ireland, with its rich shifting linguistic and cultural history is an ideal backdrop for these concepts to be given a concrete context. Therefore using the linguistic situation in Ireland I aim to:

1. Examine the extent of the relationship between language and identity of both the individual and the collective culture which the individual ascribes to;
2. Examine the evolution of the meaning of language from a pre-modern to a modern globalising world;
3. In doing so identify the causes and implications of language shift.

The thinkers I will employ are firstly; Pierre Bourdieu, with his ideas of habitus, and social and cultural capital to help explain how language and culture shifts due to market forces. Secondly I will look at Karl Marx’s notion of commodity fetishism and see the implications of extending commodity fetishism to the cultural and social market. Finally I will take Deleuze & Guattari’s concept of minor language and minor literature and apply it to the Irish Literary Revival, in the process showing how novel discourses and identities can be formed from the deterritorialization of post-colonial Ireland.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

The Morality Behind WikiLeaks: is WikiLeaks Endangering Society or Saving it from Corruption?

Aim: To determine the morality behind WikiLeaks with reference to both Kant and Mill.

•WikiLeaks aims to publish secret, confidential and classified material so it becomes freely available to the public. Julian Assange, the key spokesperson, believes that WikiLeaks will help create a freer, less corrupted world.

•Mill believed no opinion should be silenced. In order to gain a true opinion of something it is necessary to know all the facts. Therefore Mill would have been pro WikiLeaks as long as the information released posed no legitimate harm to society.

•Kant argued that publicity is required in order to have peace within a society. No information should be kept secret as this involves lying and prevents individuals from understanding their situation. According to the categorical imperative lying is always wrong. Kant would have strongly supported WikiLeaks.

With regards to Mill, I will focus mainly on his text On Liberty. I will analyse Kant’s texts The Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and Perpetual Peace. I will use various internet sources and secondary texts in order to gain the greatest understanding of my concept and territory.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

An Attempted Analysis of the Rationality of Ted Bundy

My Project is based upon the serial killer Ted Bundy who murdered and raped at least 30 women.

The initial preconception is that there is something ‘evil’ about Bundy.

My aim is to look beyond these initial preconceived ideas and understand the mind of Bundy by focusing on his rationality.

The philosophical concepts I will use include:

Freud’s notion of the unconscious: Investigating Bundy’s childhood in relation to the Oedipus complex. Looking at the Id, Ego, and Superego and the possible variations in neurosis and psychosis.

Kantian rationality: Transcendental rationality in the moral law vs. Instrumental rationality in the sensible world. The need for duty as opposed to inclinations. The Categorical Imperative vs. The Hypothetical Imperative and the notion of Radical Evil.

Durkheim’s social thesis: The need for serial killing in deviant behaviour. The Division of Labour on modern society. The impact of capitalism on the rise of serial killing and the concept of organic solidarity.

Each theory will give a different perspective determining to what extent Bundy is rational; the inference of this will be an evaluation of whether the initial preconceived ideas of Bundy being ‘evil’ is credible.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Social Luck versus Social Mobility. Is it OK to be Told the World isn’t Fair?

– Objective/Territory: The ‘American dream’: What is the ‘American dream’ and is it just a product or propaganda process of the capitalist society in which we live? 

– Sources: Karl Marx, Deleuze and Guattari, Charles Taylor and Adorno. 

– Project Outline: Leaving education and entering the ‘real world’ in a time where one’s ideals and ambitions are centred on seeking wealth; why is it that we think this way? I hold the belief that to succeed, it is about whom you know not necessarily what you know. So, I want to prove that wealth is down to social luck. My territory is society and culture and I am trying to show that our basic intuition (one gets what one deserves) is a herd mentality in order for a specific class to benefit. If we think everyone has what they deserve, then we don’t think that it could be redistributed.

Through a method of hermeneutics, I endeavour to seek why it is we think the way we do and why it is we desire wealth. E480

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

A Questionable Interpretation: a study into John Nash’s Game Theory, its reliance on a dubious interpretation of Adam Smith’s economic theory, and how it has been detrimental to competition in modern day economics

The aim, as such, of this writing is to examine the idea that there is a questionable interpretation underpinning modern economics and if it is attacked we are left with the notion that the economics we have is not the economics it should be. This is because the theory of capitalism that we have today is not exactly the one argued for, by its founder, Adam Smith. I also wish to show that we cannot go back to the more true form of capitalism however nor can we move to any other system because of the damage already done. This shall be hinted at by using some segments of Capital by Karl Marx.

The object which has driven me to examine such an idea that something has gone wrong in economics is the film A Beautiful Mind. I believe the portrayal of John Nash in this film is biased and unjustifiable as I believe his wrong interpretation of Smith may have led to an unending cycle of greed that will slowly pervert and consume any form of morality.

My territories of discussion are economics and the application of game theory and within this writing the concepts that I wish to discuss are: Nash equilibria, game theory and competition.

The thinkers and relevant sources that I shall use within this writing are:

Karl Marx – Capital
Adam Smith – Wealth of nations
John Nash – non-cooperative games and two person cooperative games (contained within issues of Econometrica, the economics journal)

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

True (?) Romance. How has the Ideal of Love Been Lost in Contemporary United Kingdom and What Are the Ramifications?

Current relationships are under strain due to the gap between fictional love (the ideal) and genuine love. Marriage and monogamy are the metanarrative structures and institutions of the ideal of love that are causing tension in love, requiring paramours to be more consistent than their identity allows for. As identity lacks an origin without the ideal, it becomes relative to the Other in a cyclical relationship that causes identity to be in constant flux. Without a stable base on which to love, the ideal can longer function.

Therefore if agents still want to love, then they must accept that each moment is unique and the only ground for love is the individual’s experience of the other in the Other. The essay is heavily influenced by the works of Jacques Derrida (Violence and Metaphysics), Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness) and Emmanuel Levinas (Totality and Infinity).

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

Anarchism: the Path to Freedom

Aims: 
To highlight the impotence, invalidity and ineffectiveness of our current economic and political systems. Whilst illustrating the detriment this causes to our social and personal lives.
To promote Anarchism as a means to securing greater freedom and liberty whilst overcoming the problems of our current system.

Thinkers:
Kropotkin – A collection of Revolutionary writings.  
Nietzsche – Thus spoke Zarathustra  
Chomsky – On Anarchism

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

What is the Appeal of Intoxication Through Drug Use and is Society Right to Condemn It?

My project is an investigation into the ETHICS OF DRUG USE.

I used questionnaires and surveys done in the last 4 years on young people and most particularly, CLUBBERS. My empirical research showed me that the WAR ON DRUGS IS LOST, as almost 2 MILLION people use illegal substances EVERY MONTH.

I found that the EFFECTS OF DRUGS are EXAGGERATED in the media to support the SOCIAL ATTITUDE OF CONDEMNATION. I presented the arguments that DAVID HUSAK, a legal philosopher, puts forward as to why DRUGS SHOULD BE LEGALISED.

I explored the MOTIVATION BEHIND DRUG USE and concluded that for most, recreational drug use consists of a HEDONISTIC SEARCH FOR PLEASURE.

I used MILL’S HARM PRINCIPLE to explain why he might not condemn drug use, since in itself, it does not harm others and also looked into his ATTITUDE TO ALCOHOL. I also looked into a possible UTILITARIAN COUNTER ARGUMENT.

GUY DEBORD and the SITUATIONISTS help us to understand the CONDEMNATION of drug use by the MEDIA.

My most interesting CONCLUSION is that while we permit the consumption of alcohol, we must also PERMIT DRUG USE.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Are Holidays Part of Our Real Lives or an Escape into Unreality?

LOOKING AT NIETZSCHE AND HIS CRITQUE AGAINST THE `’REAL” AND “APPARENT” WORLD

IS THERE ONLY ONE WORLD? IF SO WHICH ONE ARE WE LIVING IN?

IS A HOLIDAY A FORM OF AN ILLUSION?

ARE WE BORN INTO A CULTURE OF ESCAPISM?

IN OUR ESCAPISM CAN WE STILL FIND TRUTH?

The Schopenhauerian man voluntarily takes upon himself the suffering involved in being truthful.’

The quote is bound up with Nietzsche’s view that most people don’t like seeing reality as it is, i.e. the one and only reality there is. People prefer all the illusions, which the apparent world gives us by way of hope that we will enter the real true world where everything will be alright; for example heaven or even on holidays.