This essay examines the concept of madness and discusses whether madness should have a place in our metaphysical framework. It begins by exploring Nietzsche’s presentation of madness in his text The Gay Science, and concludes that madness ought to be included within philosophy. It then goes on to examine Foucault’s historical analysis of madness in his text, Madness and Civilisation, which demonstrates how the voice of madness has gradually been reduced to silence as the language of reason takes over. This essay concludes that the voice of madness ought to be included within philosophy for at times it is only the authoritative voice of madness that can lead us to new truths.
Category: 2021
I Will Survive: Self-preservation and its practical application
Self-Preservation is a force endowed to all organic beings. Its innate nature means it is inescapable, leading to it being a definite presence among action in the world. As a concept it has been subject to interpretations, and my own will supplemented by Schopenhauer, Nietzche and Darwinism. Within the project I will attempt to offer a comprehensive story of the practical application, to understand how the will developed and changed in its environment. Within the project I wrestled with questions such as:
“Who runs the world?”
“Why did modern countries develop the way they did?”
“How do we fix societies for the better”?
My analysis began with ancient history, where self-preservation showcased itself in establishing systems of hierarchy as extension of the will’s desire to dominate. Following on from this I focused on Western society and how self-preservation inspired the actions of imperialism. Next, I explained how self-preservation transitioned into neo-liberalism as well as the resulting disguise from the new environment. Finally, I presented potential solutions to the harmful effects of self-perseveration that I encountered within the project.
Anorexia is a mental illness which predominately affects women, whereby the sufferer severely restricts their food intake in order to lose a significant amount of weight, founded on an intense fear of gaining weight. In this dissertation I examine the feminist theories of Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex and Susan Bordo in Unbearable Weight in order to gain an understanding of the development of anorexia. In doing so, I hope to provide an account of anorexia that offers a level of compassion to those who suffer from the disorder.
I analyse Beauvoir’s account of women’s oppression in The Second Sex, in which she argues that women are subservient to men because they are defined in relation to men, rather than in and of themselves. I suggest that anorexia develops during adolescence when young girls realise this inevitable subordination, concentrating on the themes of control and objectification. I then consider Bordo’s claim in Unbearable Weight that anorexia is a manifestation of our cultural idealisation of slenderness, and modern understanding of femininity. I find that although both Beauvoir and Bordo provide a useful insight into why women develop anorexia, Bordo provides a more progressive feminist theory in the context of anorexia.