Aim To investigate the relationship between human consciousness and text and images. Territory The ‘handwriting on the wall’. Objectives 1. To explore the key concepts of postmodernism, post-structuralism, interpretation, hermeneutics and deconstruction amongst others, as introduced by postmodernists such as Barthes, Derrida, Foucault and Gadamer. 2. To trace some of the patterns in graffiti and explore its explosion since the late 1960’s. To establish if postmodernism has effected the way we view, read and interpret graffiti. To understand how graffiti has changed so much in a relatively small period of time and the world events and cultural variations that have influenced it. To study graffiti’s increased universalism and the proliferation of styles. 3. To make a distinction between humans and the outside events that influence and determine their lives. Does graffiti bridge any gaps? Method Close reading of postmodernist texts such as Derrida’s ‘Of Grammatology’ and Gadamer’s ‘Truth and Method’ as well as analysis of examples of graffiti from ancient Rome to modern contemporary artists such as Banksy.
Category: 2004
Objectives: • To what extent has this notion of rights evolved over time, from the ancient Greeks to the present day? • To what extent do non-human animals possess legal and/or moral rights? • Depending on whether animals do or do not possess legal and/or moral rights I will determine why it is that they do, or do not possess these rights and what has changed. Structure: 1st Chapter: I will trace the notion of ‘Rights’ through the Western Philosophical Tradition from Aristotle to Darwin. I will determine whether or not they believed animals to possess intrinsic value and moral standing; did animals possess rights and if they did not, did they believe that they should. 2nd Chapter: I will look at the 1970’s onwards, what has been referred to as ‘the Greening of Philosophy.’ To what extent has the notion of moral consideration for animals changed? Do animals possess rights, if so, do they possess significantly more rights? 3rd Chapter: I will determine whether animals do, or do not possess legal rights and/or moral rights? Why is it that they do, or do not possess these rights and to what extent has this notion of ‘Rights’ changed? Change: I will look at the 1970’s as the key change as there was an emergence of interest in environmental philosophy and the belief in both moral consideration and moral standing for animals. I will examine to what extent there has been a change in both legal rights and moral rights for animals. Did they and/or do they possess such rights? If there has been a change, Why? Sources: Law Relating to Animals, Brooman and Legge. The Rights of Nature, Nash. Rights, Jones. Animal Rights and Human Obligations, Regan and Singer. Respect for Nature A Theory of Environmental Ethics, Taylor. Animal Rights – a Symposium, Ryder. Environmental Ethics, What Really Matters, What Really Works, Schmidtz and Willot.