My project paper is a discussion of the theoretical framework of antiwork politics with a specific emphasis on antiwork’s conception of production and its relation to work. The object of the paper is the reddit forum group r/antiwork and the territory is work and production. I found antiwork’s theoretical framework through Kathi Weeks’ The Problem with Work. In this text, the concept of production as a central topic in the critique of work is discussed. From there, through an analysis of the Introduction to Marx’s Grundrisse, I established the traditional conceptualisation of production. Then, I looked at the problem of productivism, antiwork’s primary critical point, through Baudrillard’s critique in The Mirror of Production. Finally, I introduced Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of production, found in Anti-Oedipus, as an alternative way to conduct antiwork critique. This project was a chance for me to philosophically investigate an area of everyday life that is widely discussed but contains many inconspicuous elements.
Category: 2023
This project is intended to investigate the existence of authenticity in Reality Television programmes. It will look into three main Reality Television shows: The Only way is Essex, Made in Chelsea and Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Whether or not Authenticity is present within these three shows will be investigated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger and Charles Taylor
It will then be discussed what is meant by simulated authenticity with a reference to a case study conducted by Randall L. Rose and Stacy L. Wood who interviewed 15 Reality Television viewers and evaluated their perceptions of authenticity through the participants journals and interviews.
This project will ask and answer the questions: Is what we see on our screens authentic? Has it all been constructed for entertainment? How do we become our true authentic selves? Is authenticity present, simulated or simply does not exist within the genre of Reality Television?
The project explores how nihilism is an inevitability that emerges out of Schopenahuer’s pessimistic worldview and Nietzsche’s death of God. The project makes the case that by examining the night sky’s historical significance to humankind, we can affirm our lives through its wonder. More specifically, we can affirm our lives and all existence through the night sky’s primordial wonder, which corresponds to Nietzsche’s abandonment of Wagner’s tragic music drama in The Birth of Tragedy.
This essay explores the themes of alienation and identity within Kafka’s collected works. The study examines the suffering of his characters psychologically through R. D. Laing and Debord and metaphysically through Schopenhauer and Buddhism. The essay focuses on texts such as “Metamorphosis”, “The Castle” and shorter works such as “A Country Doctor” and “The Judgement”. Overall, it intends to use literary and philosophical analysis to interpret Kafka’s understanding of the human condition.
This essay will draw upon philosophical ideas to attempt to explain the origins of the Law of Attraction and identify its philosophical background despite its new age modernity. It is beyond the scope of this essay to verify the Law of Attractions ultimate existence; for the purposes of the research, it is only important to acknowledge the theory as a conceptual observation. Authenticity of the law is not under question here, but rather the social and philosophical foundations that it is built upon. The Law of Attraction is a universal law based on the principle that whatever is given out by thought or action is returned to the subject. As Bryne, a leader in popularising the doctrine contemporarily, suggests, “we create powerful emotions about what is in our minds..then the law of attraction returns the same to us” (Byrne, 2012, p.114). This law states that any personal desire can only be accomplished objectively and externally by concentration and positive thinking (Curtis, 2009, p.250).
Increasingly evident in its growth and positioning in the mainstream sphere, the implication of the law of attraction itself, is that as it is presented as a law, there are underlying sciences contributing to its establishment. By using applications of traditional schools of thought including Stoicism and Epistemology, I attempt to establish linkages instead between the logic behind the Law of Attraction and philosophical thought. The law of attraction is often validated by a combination of scientific and pseudoscientific theories, thus creating duality in its background
This project aims to illuminate how monogamy creates a romantic ideal in which individuals involved rely on one partner to fulfil endless needs. In order to satisfy these demands, a partner has responsibilities such as; being the greatest lover, the best parent, the trusted confidant, the emotional companion and the intellectual equal. Such expectations from a partner facilitates a restriction on their freedom. Hence, this romantic ideal creates a paradox where we have never been more reliant on our partner’s loyalty but have also never been more prone to stray since we live in a time where we feel entitled to pursue our desire because this is the culture where we deserve to be happy and utilise our freedom to the fullest. An act of infidelity is rooted in a need for an emotional connection, freedom, autonomy and a wish to reclaim lost aspects of oneself. Whereas, in polyamorous relationships “lovers guard their own and their partner’s autonomy, which is understood as the freedom to feel differently tomorrow” (Grahle 2002, 24).