Objectives • I want to look at how much of yourself you have to sacrifice in order to become what you want to be: how much you have to sacrifice your talents for the record company, the fans and even the other band members. • I want to explore how far commercialism has embedded itself in the music industry. • Is it possible to create and release music with any real amount of integrity? • What does it mean to ‘sell-out’? • How can a band keep ‘it’ about ‘the music’? • What does ‘the music’ entail? How Done • I will look at and compare the record contracts of a major label and an indie label. • I will look at Marx’s views on commercialism and capitalism and how they affect culture. • I will assess how much control bands have over their music and what they could do to keep it about ‘the music’ so that they do not ‘sell-out’. What Achieved • By doing this I will have more of an understanding of what kind of balance there needs to be with the band and the record company in order for the music to be heard by enough people without it loosing its integrity.
Category: 2005
An exploration into punk, its roots, its philosophy and where it is now.
The past few decades have witnessed the rise of the application of international human rights law as well as the extension of a wider public discourse on human rights to the extent that they could be regarded as being one of the most globalized political values of our time. Following the death of grand political narratives, it could be said that in the postmodern era, human rights represent the last remaining utopian ideal; the last remain shard of enlightenment emancipatory values. However, if the twentieth century is said to be the epoch of universal human rights then its triumph is paradoxical since this period has witnessed so many violations. Furthermore, civilians have been killed by those purporting to defend human rights as illustrated by the Kosovo ‘humanitarian’ bombings. Thus whilst the discourse of human rights purports the intrinsic rights of all people based on nothing more than an appeal to humanity, there appears to be a great deal of dissonance between self-satisfied rhetoric and social reality. As we step into the globalized era, rights are transported all over the world and transmitted straight into the homes of people, the problematic nature of universalising rights becomes apparent. Is there such a thing as rights? Can they and should they be universalised? Can rights be squared with the deconstruction of subjectivity? If not, can a non-essentialist theory of rights be developed? These are the questions I intend to answer.
TERRITORY: An arcade. An area of great energy, albeit, completely spiritually empty. A place of total objectivity, total simulacra, total inauthenticity. Repeating themes of both Heidegger and early Buddhist teachings, Nishitani claims that the central failure of philosophy in our time is that it has not provided an adequate response to nihilism. The alienation in human consciousness caused by modern science objectifying humans and denaturalizing nature, is the nihil that cuts through human existence. STANDPOINT OF EMPTINESS (Shunyata) & ABSOLUTE NOTHINGNESS (Zettai-Mu) For Nishitani, the key to overcoming the nihilism that continues to loom over humanity, is the ‘Standpoint of Emptiness’, or ‘Absolute Nothingness’. As epitomized in Western existentialism, nothingness as nihility is still seen as a reference point of subjectivity or as something to which existence relates; it functions as representational correlate of existence. By contrast, nothingness in the sense of sunyata means emptiness of a kind that empties itself even of the standpoint that represents it as some ‘thing’ that is emptiness, or to which existence merely relates. Fundamentally, Buddhist sunyata does not denote nihilism or nihility in the sense of a simple negation of, or antithesis to, being; instead, it intimates the nothingness of being or the emptiness harbored by being itself. “When we become a question to ourselves and when the problem of why we exist arises, this means that nihility has emerged from the ground of existence and that our very existence has turned into a question mark.” (Nishitani) This doubt becomes the Great Doubt, as one is led further into the core of one’s being, there to meet the Great Death. This Great Death is the dissolution of the small self, from which emerges a total openness and freedom, wherein the self is no longer separate from, but realizes its oneness with, all the myriad things of the universe. This is the arrival at the Standpoint of Emptiness, where everything is seen in its ‘suchness’. It is a standpoint that cuts through boundaries of space and time and yet is firmly rooted in the present…a recovery of the fullness of the present moment that is open to eternity.
Fashion has changed dramatically between the Eighteenth and Twentieth centuries, however it is not simply the changes that the inventors of fashion have made to the clothes, but all the social and political aspects that have occurred between these times. The changes have altered how we see ourselves, our self-identity, and how we see others. Modernity “ thinks of society as in a state of constant flux, innovation and development as changes in knowledge and technology alter the identities and experiences of individuals and communities” Lyotard, Kant and Freud are the main philosophers explored, looking closely at the ideas of modernity and postmodernity, with particular interest in the sublime: “With The sublime, the response is more complex. One is simultaneously attracted and repelled by the object, enthralled by it and also horrified.” Sources: Questionnaires, Internet, Book – ‘Jean-Francois Lyotard’ By Simon Malapas
My Territory – 2 students from different backgrounds. Their opinions, beliefs and desires from work and diaries in their youth to their opinions now. My aims to explore the philosophy of childhood. What is it to be a child are they merely developing organisms as Aristotle may say -”underdeveloped human organisms”. The philosophers I am using: Aristotle change and causation, Plato education is relearning, Descartes and Locke on the development of cognitive thought, Sarte on Being
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction to Study, Background to Study CHAPTER TWO: Paris: A History, The Medieval History, Renaissance and Baroque, Enlightenment, Napoleon to the Revolution and Restoration, Romantic City and Haussmann, Republican Age, Paris and Art Nouveau with World War II Modernity, Modern Paris, Purism, Cubism, Industrialisation and High Tec CHAPTER THREE: Love and Romance CHAPTER FOUR: Specific Investigation of Individual Structures, Notre Dame, The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusion Sources: Romantic Paris Thirza Vallois 2003, Napoleon III and the Rebuilding of Paris David Pinkney 1938, Paris Robert Cole 2002, The Emerging City Leon Bernard 1970, Architect’s Guide to Paris Salvadori Renzo 1990, Visits: Paris: The Louvre, Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, Trip down the River Seine
Objectives: How much is our present day society increasingly reliant on simulations for its reality? What affect does this have with regards to the individual and society as a whole? Method: I will look at how far society is controlled by mediations with regard to the television for example, as our main source of gaining knowledge about the world, and how this leads to the notion of risk society and the current climate of obsessive individualisation. My main aims are to explore the outcomes of simulations in postmodernity with regard to the importance of the image and the increasing occurrence of territorialisation, particularly in everyday activities such as the foods that we eat and the goods which we consume. Sources: Ulrich Beck, Risk Society, Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulations, David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, George Ritzer, The McDonaldization Thesis, Don Delillo, White Noise.
Mass produced items are everywhere. They perform cold hard lines on our imagination. How can we relate to objects, initially designed by people, but created by machine? As beings that came ‘out of’ nature, do we do ourselves (psychological and emotional) harm by surrounding ourselves with straight bricked walls and replicated items? What philosophical criteria are employed in the architectural decision-making process? Comparing and contrasting the position of Art Nouveau, with the position of Jean Baudrillard a century later, I argue we are alienated in our environment. This is due to industrialisation and the life doctrines capitalism preaches. To inject nature into our surroundings would increase happiness of the occupants. Art Nouveau epitomises an ideal synthesis of nature and machine. If Art Nouveau were to pervade our environment, we would be happier. It is no coincidence that environmentalism forms one of the two movements evidencing the powerful widespread surges of collective identity to have been found in the last quarter of the century.1 I have read the Communist Manifesto, and I have dealt with modern writers who provide Marxian critiques or developments in Marxian thought. In this essay I deal with globalization and capitalism and how they might have affected my environment. I look at an industry that deals with these issues day-to-day (landscape architecture). I look at the criteria that landscape architects might use when regarding chairs and connect human rights to furniture. The ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement should be incorporated more into our environment, as well as the sweeping curving nature-derived designs found in Art Nouveau. The Green Party’s plea is for “The need for a Reasonable Revolution” in the plight to prevent the Ghost Towns of Britain. Is Art Nouveau to some extent a priori?
Territory: Wycombe Abbey School. An all girls Boarding School founded in 1896 by Dame Frances Dove, whose aim for the school was “The development of each student’s talents and the fostering of an awareness of God and an understanding of the needs of others”. “A record 98% of the 250 A-Levels taken by 76 girls were graded A or B, 78% were graded A” 2004 A level results, Daily Telegraph Saturday August 28th 2004 Aims and Objectives: • To explore the concept of nurture within schools, arguing for Plato’s concept of a boarding environment to promote a learning community thus exploring more than just results, but also development of the soul. • To discuss the lack of social interaction between students and teachers, particularly within universities, in which interaction is minimal, and Internet and e-mail have become more predominant features of communication and learning. Plato’s Noble Puppies to Warrior Kings relationship has gone as now the focus for learners is upon results, not personality development. Possible Solutions to the Problem: Montessori Schools: The Montessori Method – developed in 1912 by Maria Montessori for, “Man is not only a biological but a social product, and the social environment of individuals in the process of education, is the home” ‘Free’ Schools: E.g. Summerhill, Brookwood, Standbridge Earls. Within these schools the freedom of the individual is the most important feature. o Lessons and exams are not compulsory o School Rules are made by Pupils and Teachers equally. “The most important part is the building and maintaining an environment where members of the community can co-exist in harmony and in personal freedom” Summerhill School Webpage. Mike Tomlinson’s Report: Focus on a diploma, rather than the AS and A2 system of today, meaning vocational studies can be regarded as more important to society, giving students more freedom to express their true interests, thus putting more into school and consequently getting more out of it. Philosophic Focus: • Plato’s views on Education found in The Republic focusing on nurture as the most important element of educating • Kant’s Categorical Imperative: It is evident that Free Schools will not amount in the Categorical Imperative as whilst individuals are happy, without qualifications society cannot move on.
Territory: Newcastle Buddhist Centre. My aim was to research Buddhism in the West using my territory, the NBC. My objectives included documenting the changes between traditional Eastern Buddhism and modern Western Buddhism, to understand why traditional thoughts of Buddhism have disappeared and to debate if religion is needed in a modern scientific rational society. It is clear that Buddhist beliefs have altered dramatically through time and movement from the East to the West. Western Buddhism appeals to modern day society because traditional Eastern religious views like rebirth are now only taken symbolically and unlike most religions, Buddhism has no belief in a supreme God. Buddhism can provide a society with guidelines on morality and ways of life, without conflicting with scientific thought.