Reading key thinkers such as Hegel, Marx, and Blumenberg the project will assert an anthropology which states that human identity naturally needs techne in its formation.
By tracing the development of techne into modern digital technology, Stiegler will help demonstrate how the changing nature of technology has come to change the formation of human identity.
Drawing on Heidegger, Agamben and Baldwin the project will prove how modern digital technology simultaneously systematises and fragments human identity. It will then analyse whether these effects on human identity are either positive or negative from both humanist and post-humanist perspectives.
The project will finally question what the future holds for the development of modern technology and whether human identity formation will become entirely dictated by technology or continued to be formed under the control of humanity.
Category: 2022
This project will explore the object of the runner’s high within the territory of Phenomenology, in particular, the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty in The Phenomenology of perception and the work of Martin Heidegger in Being and Time. The runner’s high is generally understood as acute and positive mood changes that occur with running and jogging over long distances, that can be explained by the scientific endorphin hypothesis. However, this project aims to show that this is limited as it does not provide an account of our actual human experience of the runner’s high. It draws on literature and blogs that describe the author’s personal experience of the runners high in order to analyse this phenomenon as it actually appears to us. The application of phenomenology is significant in proving an account of this as it includes the way things are experienced by humans and treats this phenomenon as real and significant. To an extent, this project argues that Phenomenology can provide a valid account of the runner’s high as the application of Heidegger’s work partially provides an explanation of key factors in our experiences of the runner’s high. However, the application of Merleau-Ponty’s work provides a more sufficient account.
Zygmunt Bauman’s interesting philosophy of modernity and identity offers a great account of people’s fluid identities in contemporary times. Technology has evolved the way we identify with others as worldwide connections have brought people so much closer together. However, this technologically advanced world is hindered by the dark reality that neo-Nazi groups can operate and radicalise online. Thus, they must be combatted.
This project examines where one should draw the line between obeying and disobeying the law, specifically focusing on the Colston statue controversy in Bristol, UK. It investigates the role of civil disobedience in the removal of the statue. The legitimacy of the actions taken by the Colston Four are considered, who were charged with criminal damage and brought to trial for their role in the statue’s removal. The perspectives of political philosophers John Locke and John Rawls on civil disobedience are utilised, with a view towards how their theories might relate to the Colston statue case.
It also considers the legal framework governing civil disobedience in the UK, examining the Colston Four’s legal defence and the judge’s ruling that they could not rely on a human rights defence. It questions whether the current legal system adequately protects individuals’ rights to civil disobedience and whether greater protections should exist. Ultimately, I argue that the Colston Four’s actions were justified as a form of civil disobedience aimed at rectifying a historical wrong and that the law should allow for greater latitude in cases of civil disobedience where the individual’s actions are aimed at challenging injustice and promoting equality.
This project seeks to problematize European notions of Enlightenment and to discuss notions of a non-Western form of Enlightenment. I will begin by discussing the problem of Enlightenment that still haunts us to this day. Central to this will be Kant and Foucault’s work ‘What is Enlightenment’. This will lead me to utilize work from Adorno and Horkheimer and Said to demonstrate how colonial expansion was justified through Enlightenment and Orientalist ideology. This will explain how foreign interference across the globe has been justified. I shall highlight the issues of enforcing European, Enlightenment value frameworks on non-Western cultures in reference to the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
In this project, I focused on the overturning of Roe V. Wade, a law which made abortion a constitutional right in all of the American states, which occurred in June 2022 and the resulting reaction of ‘Gen Z’ which was displayed on TikTok. I applied Nietzsche’s understanding of the Master and Slave morality and providing a discussion on how the new TikTok generation can provide a reintroduction of the Master morality to society. Focusing on the Christian moral principles which prevail in US politics and how this allowed the overturning to take place, whilst discussing how those in power maintain a Slave morality. Furthermore, I used Rawls’ understanding of civil disobedience to analyse how TikTok has provided a new platform for ‘Gen Z’ to engage in their own forms of civil disobedience, in response to the Roe V. Wade overturning. I used examples of civil disobedience documented on TikTok in response to the ruling and provided an analysis of their engagement to understand how the impact of their civil disobedience has been amplified as a result of TikTok. Hence, determining that TikTok successfully demonstrates Rawls’ understanding of civil disobedience.
Within this project, an investigation occurred which looked at the genealogy of the causation of depression and the potential treatments that result from the theories. This investigation look at studies ranging from Ancient Greece to the medieval ages, to the 1920’s, to the 1950’s and finally the modern age. This was done by researching studies, journal articles and books by both scientists and philosophers about what depression was understood to be. The discussion involved Hippocrates, Bogdan Popoveniuc, Sigmund Freud, B. F. Skinner to name a few. An interview with CAMHS also took place where a deeper understanding of support structures which offer help to children with both the diagnosis and treatment of depression. The rationale behind the project is because the author has struggled with depression for a lot of their life, and they want to understand what the potential causes could have been and what treatments might be available to the author. The author has found that depression is often caused through genetic malfunctions within a human, and is maintained through unhealthy circumstances in the environment. Also the author also found that CAMHS was a struggling system, that it was severely underfunded and understaffed, and the staff that worked there were up against immense workloads. Studies pointed to a holistic approach to treatment that takes into account both childhood, genetics and how the individual behaves at the current point in their lives. This means that therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Psychoanalysis, and treatments like medication, often fail as the disease is approached in a way that must be nipped in the bud as soon as possible. The implication of this conclusion is that a new therapy needs to be created which takes into account all of the previously mentioned circumstances, and that CAMHS needs to be reorganised in a way where children should see councillors within school that are trained in mental health specifically. These new councillors should allow for children to understand their own situations, and it should remove the cessation of social interaction that is typically seen in mental illness of children.
Hannah Arendt’s philosophy on ‘the banality of evil applied to racism.
My aim through this text is to create a reading of how silence is used and understood by John Cage and British Quakerism, through the lens of Nietzschean moral philosophy – particularly that of Nietzsche’s ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’.
This paper examines whether the exponential growth in the usage of social media is influencing the construction of our identity, with a specific focus on Facebook. The object of my project was to investigate whether there was a correlation between the exponential growth of social media and identity. The interest for this was stemmed through reading a variety of articles claiming the negative impacts social media obtains, because social media platforms exposes us to a variety of different cultures, opinions and perspectives, this ultimately must have some influence over identity composition. This project examines David Hume, ‘Treatise of Human Nature, specifically, book 1, part IV ‘Of Personal Identity’. Soren Kierkegaard’s ‘The Two ages: A literary review and lastly, Zygmunt Bauman’s book ‘Identity’. Engaging with these different texts concerning identity, provides a variety of different theories of how one forms identity. Analysing these philosophers works, highlighted that there are three main themes which contribute and can impact identity. The three main themes explored within this paper are: choice and experience, communities and collective identity and lastly, liquid modernity and capitalism. Investigating these main themes, enabled the conclusion to be reached that social media does influence the construction of identity.
This project analyses the value of Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence, using Kundera’s novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” as a contextual foundation. I argue that Kundera’s work highlights the problems that arise from not accepting one’s fate, failing to comprehend the immutable nature of the past, and refusing to recognise that suffering is an inevitable part of life. By using Nietzsche’s doctrine of eternal recurrence as a psychological tool, individuals can learn to appreciate both the positive and negative aspects of existence. I contend that although criticisms, such as Karl Löwith’s, demonstrate some weaknesses, ultimately Nietzsche’s eternal return is a valuable doctrine that may act as a possible solution to the burden of existential weight.
Moral development is a highly important factor within childhood and adolescence and requires intense focus and interest in order to produce a well-rounded, virtuous adult in later life who knows how to properly differentiate between good and bad and right and wrong. However, the source of this focus and interest is key to the outcome. During childhood, a large proportion of time is spent in education meaning most of the interactions children have come from academic professionals and their peers, meaning this is where they will effectively develop their morals and virtues, but is there a risk mainstream education will prioritise academic education instead of the pastoral side?