Contribution to the book of change: Aim To show there is a link between philosophical theory and popular American culture in an attempt to bridge the gap between humans and things around them Concepts/ Key words Existentialism and ideas from philosophers such as Sartre and Camus. Popular American culture namely The Simpson’s Objectives To illustrate that the following picture although stereotypically American with busy highways and mega capitalism does not represent popular American culture. To see if there is a link between the heroes of Sartre, Camus and Nieztsche and some of the Simpson’s characters To determine whether Homer is the authentic individual that Sartre and Camus dreamed of? Or is Bart the übermensch that Nietzsche depicted who could rise above Christian morality and create a new moral code? Project Territory The Simpson’s TV show Sources Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Friedrich Nieztsche, Mark Conrad……….
Category: 2003
Beauty: There has been a pre-occupation with our society as far back as we can remember, yet we still cannot define it, due to its changing character. The fairy tale promises that we are raised on promise security, a prince Charming and that we will live ‘happily ever after’ if we attain beauty. In this project I will be investigating and forming my own concepts on the following: ~ The role of beauty in our Western selected traditional fairy tales and how they reflect our societies attitude towards it and their role in creating these conceptions. ~What constitutes a ‘beautiful’ woman in our society and how this has altered over time, is it just a fashion? ~The phenomenon of the beauty pageant and what it means to be ‘beautiful in our society. ~The desperation associated with achieving this ‘beauty’ and what happens when it goes ‘wrong.’ I will highlight these objectives using the concepts of Plotinus and the Enneads, where he looks at beauty, the soul and what constitutes beauty. I will also use some of the concepts of Kant aesthetics on ‘natural’ beauty, the purpose of beauty and the judgements of taste.
Sources: Newspaper Articles ‘The Economist’ Philosopher’s Books Literature Books and Productions Art Books Visit to the Ecuadorian Prison Visit to the Newcastle Law Courts Project Territory: Michel Foucault’s Theory on Technologies of Power Key Concepts: Technologies of Power Power over the Individual Human Beings made into Docile Bodies Human Rights Vs Homeland Security (Protection) Punishments and Prisons The Big Brother Resistance against Power Materialism Vs Spiritualism Freedom and Search for the Individual Self Objectives: Foucault had predicted the dominance of technology over our lives and the failure of prisons correctly. The connection between knowledge and power is found everywhere and at anytime. The search for individuality and meaning by the modern man The different ways in which power is presented Progression does not necessarily mean success, for example, the prison system The Change: People’s lives depend on the type of power and knowledge present. Materialism through science and technology, overtook the spiritual and meaningful side of a man’s life The centrality of life is no longer on man, but capitalism and progression. The Book of Change: Our lives are dominated by what surrounds us, such as the knowledge and power present. There is no one time more important than the other.
Objectives: – · To explore the impact of sound recording on the way we interact with music. In the past, people experienced music solely through live interaction: performances, concerts etc. Now music is widely available in recorded form, also through the mass media outlets of radio, television, the Internet. Does this devalue music, simply making it more disposable, or does it transform the potential role of music in a society where traditionally defined boundaries are shifting and collapsing in upon themselves? · To look at the effect of new methods of creating music, such as synthesis and sampling, both on the audience and on the creators of music. Through sampling, music is being made both by recycling and re-contextualising music that has come before, and by reclaiming sources previously dismissed as ‘noise’ to be placed in a musical context. Through sound synthesis, on the one hand acoustic instruments are being mimicked electronically with increasing authenticity. On the other, electronically generated sounds which radically diverge from our traditional sound palette seem increasingly commonplace in a world that is similarly transfigured. · To investigate the way these new techniques reflect the changes in our human/social condition- our relationship with technology, the mechanisation of society. To what extent do changes in musical creation and consumption come about as a result of these social changes, and to what extent do they actually inform the changes. Concepts: – · Mechanisation of society. Simulation and the hyperreal. The shifting role of art in a mass media culture. Territory: – · Western music and culture from the early 20th Century to the present. Sources: – · Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation. Roland Barthes, Image-Music-Text. Peter Manning, Electronic and Computer Music. Numerous recorded musical sources ranging from early forays into musical experimentation with sound recording, through to contemporary examples.
A philosophical inquiry into the architects new best friend: a discussion regarding the use of space in relation to design. Territory and field of exploration. Modern and contemporary interior design and interior architecture, specifically the trend in open-plan ‘new york’ style penthouses and lofts. Closer to home the recent trends in Newcastle’s slick and stylish quayside developments. Key concepts and ideas to be investigated. – Architectual space-in relation to the object and process of design – Concepts of purpose, function and place in relation to design – Minimalist approaches to design, style and manipulation of space. “Architecture is like clay held between the fingers of both hands- recording their movements. One hand is the human will, the other is the condition of the environment, architecture is the record of this conversation between the two- it is the medium to reunite them”. My project will aim at showing how the acceptance of space as a valuable architectual tool bridges the gap between humans and the things they witness around them- this space can then be shaped and sculpted by the process of interior design and the placement of objects- drawing the architect and the object closer together in a relationship previously unseen in interior design. My project will also try and identify a clear and distinct change in architectual intentions- the shift from purpose to design and the notion of design for the sake of design.
Objective: · To investigate the philosophical concepts that determined the notion of ‘womanhood’ in society. · To establish if these philosophical concepts underpin the norms that determine the notion of womanhood in Victorian and Modern society. · To determine to what extent these norms have changed from the Victorian period, through to the Modern period. Part 1: This section focuses on dualism. Dualism exists due to a denied dependency on an inferior other and it is through this, that a domination/subordination relationship is formed. Through looking at dualism’s such as: public/private, human/nature, rationality/irrationality, one can see that all those on the left, superior side relate to masculinity and reason and all those on the right, inferior side relate to femininity and nature. In order to ascertain why women are perceived as inferior and subordinate to men, and furthermore why they are associated with nature, one will examine the key dichotomous relationships: human/nature, rationality/irrationality and public/private. The purpose of examining philosophical concepts is to understand the norms that determined the notion of ‘womanhood’ and to then analyse to what extent these norms have changed from the Victorian to the Modern period. Sources: L McDowell and K Pringle, Defining Women: Social Institution and Gender Divisions. Morwenna Griffiths and Margaret Whitford, Feminist Perspectives in Philosophy. Val Plumwood, Feminism and The Mastery of Nature. Part 2: This section focuses on the norms that determine the notion of ‘womanhood’ in Victorian society. It analyses to what extent the philosophical concepts mentioned in the first section are apparent in the Victorian period. Women’s association with nature is a prominent theme, suggesting that women were in more in tune with their bodies, hence, more emotional and irrational. Women’s relation to the home was a fundamental feature of the nineteenth century. Women were placed in the private sphere due to their association with nature and irrationality, whereas men’s association with intellect and reason placed them in the material world, in the public sphere. An example of a Victorian woman is provided. Florence Nightingale is discussed, showing how she can be seen as reacting against the norms that determined the notion of ‘womanhood’ in Victorian society. Sources: Duncan Crow, The Victorian Women. Ema Olatson Hellerstein, Leslie Parker Hume and Karen M Offen, Victorian Women. Gordon Marsden, Victorian Values, Personalities and Perspectives in Nineteenth Century Society. Cecil Woodham Smith, Florence Nightingale 1820-1910. Julia Swindells, Victorian Writing and Working Women. Part 3: This section concentrates on the Modern period. Along with the Modern period came feminism. This ideology could be seen as replacing the ‘woman movement’ of the Victorian period. A change is evident in the Modern period regarding the dualism’s which are present in the Victorian period. During the twentieth century women were becoming more independent and could be seen to be turning their back on the domestic sphere, hence women’s place in the private sphere was not so rigid. Also, through sexual expression women wanted to make themselves equal to the male. In order to highlight the norms that determine the notion of ‘womanhood’ in Modern society, one focuses on an example of a Modern Woman, Hannah Arendt. Sources: Nancy F Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism. Elzbieta Ettinger, Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. Elizabeth Gross, Knowing Women, Feminism and Knowledge. Part 4: This section establishes the changes that occur from the Victorian through to the Modern period. It concentrates on the key dichotomous relationships, public/private, rationality/irrationality, human/nature. It focuses on women’s association with nature, irrationality and the private sphere which characterise the Victorian period, and examines to what extent these philosophical concepts have changed by the twentieth century. Sources: Nancy F Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism. Morwenna Griffiths and Margaret Whitford, Feminist Perspectives in Philosophy. R Minsky, Knowing Women: Feminism and Knowledge. Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature.
In this project I will analyse some of the conflicts of contemporary society encapsulated within its imagery; simulacra of efficiency embedded in a reality of waste, of quiescent order embedded in chaos. Globalisation and the fracturing of the concept of working subject brought about by issues of gender, race and sexuality have created a social environment torn between a politics of body and globe. This project, in its two constituent parts, will therefore focus on the inter-relation between the two and how transformations in each area have come to affect the discourse of resistance. Objectives 1) To examine how transformations in the organisation of the Western worlds socio-economic constitution have elicited a change in the relationship between the working subject and the world 2) To analyse the transitions in production which, at their highest level, move increasingly from the production of goods (factory labour) to the production of social life itself 3) To describe the ever changing composition of the subject itself under capital 4) To examine the impact of ‘high-technologies’ in communications industries on both the individual and the collective organisation of our society Sources Hardt + Negri- Empire, Harvey- Spaces of Hope, Marx + Engles- Collected Writings, Dyer-Whiteford- Cyber-Marx