This paper locates the origins of international relations theory in the philosophical tradition.
By exploring these foundations I develop a complex understanding of the content, qualities and development of IR theory.
This enquiry is designed in order to demonstrate the following claim: that in order for philosophy to remain a valuable discipline it must adapt.
Over the course of the paper a number of thinkers are referenced: Hobbes, Kant and Hume are primary focuses.
The aim of my project is to investigate the function and utility of disciplinary power within the primary faith school. In investigating this, the key differences between a faith and non faith school have been examined. The study of disciplinary power has been examined with reference to the work of Michel Foucault, who developed an in depth and striking analysis on how power functions within society. The reason I have chosen to use Michel Foucault, and in particular his piece of work, Discipline and Punish (1977), in my study is that his work on power is directly linked to the study of disciplinary power within educational institutions.
Key Points
Is the main function of primary faith school education to educate, or is it primarily to pass on religious beliefs?
Is a disciplinary society entirely functional?
Do disciplinary institutions maximize utility?
How do we maintain disciplinary power?
Is Foucault’s theory applicable to primary faith schooling?
Are we no longer a disciplinary society but a society of control?
THINKERS:
LEVINAS – There is
VIRNO – Precarity
HEIDEGGER – Value of inauthentic everydayness?
DELEUZE – Discipline -> Control Individuals -> “Dividuals”
ACCOUNTS OF DEPRESSION:
– SOLOMON
– STYRON
For my project, I researched into the way the internet, particularly social networking sites such as Facebook and Second Life, have impacted on the contemporary project of self-identity. Does the virtual world encourage us to maintain our real identity, or instead create artificial and fake identities? From this, I looked at how the internet and virtual identities are used as a means of control and power over others. The internet is so readily available to everyone in our modern world, and people are beginning to communicate with strangers online, yet unable to determine who their real identity actually is.
THE PHILOSOPHY
BAUMAN – his concept of ‘Liquid Modernity’ and how this has affected our self-identity.
GIDDENS – his theory of ‘Reflexive Modernity’ and how it has caused individuals to engage in a reflexive project of the self. Identity as reflexive and fluid.
ADORNO – his philosophy on the ‘Culture Industry’. The ‘reification’ of language and concept of ‘identity thinking’.
HEIDEGGER – the concepts of ‘authenticity and inauthenticity. The understanding of human life as finite – the internet allows identity to extend into the infinite.
CONCEPTS
– The historical development of Identity. Looking at how it has changed since our digitalised society
– Identity as the process of ‘becoming’ not simply ‘being’
– The Real vs the Artificial ( the real world vs the virtual world) (the real self vs the protean/virtual self)
– Authentic identity vs inauthentic identity
– The virtual world as infinite vs the finitude of the real human body
– Power and manipulation of online identity
– The issue of trust
Jean-Francois Lyotard 19241998:
An observation of the Postmodern condition, specifically: fragmentation of knowledge and society. Rise of performativity as a direct result of capitalism.
Martin Heidegger 1889 – 1976:
Brings to light the dangers inherent in modern technology and the dangers it possesses for the human condition.
One of humanity’s largest calamities over the past century has undoubtedly been the handling and care shown to its home planet. I aim to highlight the causes and effects of this shift in man’s position, to establish how and why this anthropocentrism that seems so prevalent and embedded in contemporary society came about and to propose that bio-mimicry could be the alternative to disaster – that of living in a burnt out husk of the planet Earth. I propose that there is something fundamentally wrong with the nature that this anthropocentrism has taken over the last century and that the field of bio-mimicry could aid humanity. This aid would not be the returning or encouragement toward a bio centric world view but perhaps a method to return humanity’s cognisance that we live in a competent universe, surrounded by the genius of incredible interrelated systems that we now seem to take for granted.
Peter Singer 1946 – Present:
A consideration of environmental ethics in order to judge whether our world is worth saving or if we should carry on charging down the path of exploitation and destruction.
This project looks at photojournalism and the role it plays in our culture. Whether or not photojournalism is ethical and, if it isn’t, what is the function of it?
Focusing specifically on the work of Kevin Carter in the Sudan in 1993, this project explores these topics through critical examination of Theodor W. Adorno’s discourses on Culture as mass deception and Martin Heidegger’s essay On the Origin of the Work of Art.
It will explore the idea of the roles played in society by the photograph, the photographer and the media, and bring to light the idea of the ‘icon of outrage’ as a necessary feature, both for our society and culture and for ethical realisation.
• HYPOTHESIS- Theoretical explanations of the nature of animality through the use of distinctive measures and qualifications which serve to diminish ethical consideration of animals in modern scenarios. Improved ethical consideration of animals needs to take place and so these distinctions should be considered.
• AIMS OF ENQUIRY- Explain the nature of animal through the animal-human distinction from the perspective of Heidegger. Attempt to show that these theoretical accounts are unworthy of providing ethical formulations for the treatment of animals. Consider the idea of ethical reform in the works of Peter Singer.
• Use of primary data and analysis from Heidegger (The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics), Derrida (The Animal That Therefore I am) and Singer (Animal Liberation) as evidence for nature of human-animal distinction that leads to influence of ethical treatment of animals
Aim: to show the importance of phenomenological investigation to the field of AI.
Philosophers: Husserl (micro-world systems in Logical Investigations), Heidegger (being-in-the-world in Being and Time), Dreyfus (problems with AI in various papers), Levinas (the importance of the Other in Totality and Infinity).
This project aims to analyse the deep connection between humanity’s development, both evolutionary and cultural to the production and fascination of music.
Key Concepts and Ideas:
Naturalism – Every mechanism is a result of the laws of nature
Semiotics – The study of signs, representation and meaning.
Reductionism – All sciences and phenomenon can be reduced to a single set of principles; a unifying theory of everything.
Key Philosophers and Researchers:
Darwin, C..
Pierce, C.
Bowman, D.
Cochran, G.
DeNora, T.
Kania, A.
Mithen, S.
Pierre, J.
Rahn, J.
Spano, R.