In my project I shall explore whether Humanism would set out a better form of morality for the world. I shall examine this with reference to Pico Della Mirandola, who founded renaissance Humanism and who firmly believed that Humanism and Religion could live side by side, and Bertrand Russell, whose philosophy emphasises the importance of scientific empiricism. Humanism is a branch of ethical philosophy that aims to emphasise the importance of human beings being able to determine their own ends. Humanisms rejects the need for belief in religion, and prescribes the worth and dignity of all human beings. Humanists believe that beliefs come from our values, which are determined by our life experience. This life experience can be drawn upon and used to create morals that bring about the dignity of human being’s, and the use of empirical investigation to discover facts about the world around us. I will explore whether religion is to blame for religious hatred and wars. For my case study, I shall examine the religious war in Palestine, between the Palestinians and The Israelis, for occupation of the ‘Holy Land’. I shall explore whether this is a ‘just’ war and whether Humanists would call accuse this war of being unfounded and unjust. Furthermore I shall investigate how Humanism defines spirituality and morality without religious doctrine and whether following Humanism can be spiritual rewarding. I shall also explore: • The History Of Humanism • Life without God • Life without Religion • The Problem of Religion • Morality and ethics of Humanism
Category: Abstracts
Do events in society affect artists in such a way that it is clearly reflected in their work, or is their work completely individual? In my project I look at the Abstract Expressionist movement, in particular Jackson Pollock. My main focus is the effect WW2 had on Artists in America and how Abstract Expressionism emerged as a result of it. I look into the government funding behind the movement and the postwar mood of society. Jackson Pollock is an interesting focus point because not only was he an alcoholic who suffered from depression but his art works, particularly his drip‐paintings, were extremely emotional and well documented. I centre my attention on the drip‐painting era because they demonstrate his connection with his art, his technique was controversial and the result seemed thoughtless and chaotic to some critics. To establish what is to be considered aesthetically pleasing, I will be looking at Kant, this covers how we perceive things as human beings and how our desires and preferences affect what we consider to be beautiful. To explore this idea I am going to focus on Kant’s concept of beauty, where he believes what we perceive as beauty, can be nothing other than subjective because it is the individual’s taste. In essence my project analyses art aesthetically, from both the artist and the people’s point of view. The influences surrounding artists at the time shows how art can be an inevitable result of mass emotion and therefore its popularity does not relate to how aesthetically pleasing it is.
Territory: Nursing. Object: The role of the nurse. Concepts: Informed Consent, Paternalism, Autonomy Change: The role of the nurse over time. Thinkers: Kant, Mill, O’Neill, Foucault, Gadamer. Questions I am going to Consider: Does the paternalistic role doctors and other medical professionals used to take have any ethical basis? Is the more recent move towards advocacy and partnership more ethical? Should informed consent be compulsory in every situation? Which is more important: autonomy or welfare? Sources: Mill, J.S., On Liberty, 1903, London: Longmans, Green and Co.; Gadamer, H-G., Truth and Method, 1975, London: Continuum; Gillon, R., Philosophical Medical Ethics, 1985, Chichester: Wiley; Fairbairn, G. and S. (ed.), Ethical Issues in Caring, 1988, Aldershot: Gower Publishing Company Ltd.
Inspired by the 1980’s setting of Alan Moore’s epic superhero tale, Watchmen, we consider reason and its practical application for the purposes of generating an ideal society. How ideal do we find such a setting? Has utopia been achieved? And if not, what hinders such progress? We centre on Kant’s philosophy which considers the realisation of Utopic conditions via applied rational thought, contrasted to Hobbes who considers the nature of man before rational application. Furthermore, if utopia is desirable, what would be the means to achieve such? To consider such we turn to the Utilitarian actions of Ozymandias!
The films ‘Pierot le Fou’ and ‘La Chinoise’, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, can be said to demonstrate ideas and principles associated with the situationists. These include the society of the spectacle, commodification, and an overall idea of spontaneity. The society of the spectacle is an idea that was developed by Guy Debord, the leader of the situationist movement. It means that our modern society (post-Second World War) governs the lives of its constituents. One can no longer live freely and directly, but is lived through by the mass media. This ties in with the idea of commodification, whereby everything we know has a monetary value set upon it. We cannot help but view everything in this way, and we constantly desire these commodities. The ideas of Guy Debord have origins in the ideas of Hegel and Marx. Firstly, Hegel’s idea of Mind had a particular impact on Debord, as it did on Marx. Hegel claimed our individual minds are connected to the universal Mind. His ‘Phenomenology of Mind’ traces the Mind from a state of consciousness (but unaware of its universal nature) to self-consciousness, or self-awareness. Similarly, when we come into the world, we have consciousness but not self-consciousness. We are given ideality for our consciousness to find meaning; we must “realise this ideality” in order to reach self consciousness (Hegel 1979).
Marx, and other Young Hegelians, converted Hegel’s universal and transcendental Mind to ‘Universal Mind’, meaning the collective of all human minds. Now the story of Mind becomes “path to human liberation” (Singer 1980). Marx also used Hegel’s critique of religion as alienation. The ideas of Feuerbach and his grounding of Hegel’s ideas also intrigued Marx. Feuerbach inverted Hegel’s philosophy, making the finite world the origin of philosophy, but keeping the idea of religion as a cause of alienation. Marx then applied the same inversion to Hegel’s political philosophy. In his publication ‘On the Jewish Question’ he states that it is not the fault of the Jews if they covet money, but of society. Society should be changed in order to eradicate such suffering. We now see the shift from religion to society and money as the chief causes of alienation. This had great impact on Debord and his idea of commodification. He claimed that only by living authentically, by taking one’s life back from the spectacle can one break the fetters of commodification and the alienation caused by money. These ideas are portrayed in Godard’s films, particularly Pierot le Fou, as Pierot and Marianne reject all material possessions such as clothing, cars and money, all things the spectacle seems to tell us we need on a regular basis. There is also spontaneity in the films, as the script does not flow as it would in a typically modern film, but changes between subjects and contexts, often making little sense at all. This is to awaken the audience to the idea that they do not have to adhere to conventions. By contrast, modern films such as ‘American Beauty’, directed by Sam Mendes, does adhere to such conventions, as it is a film that attempts to portray situationist ideas, but fails. It seems the ideas themselves have been made fashionable and swallowed by the spectacle.
For my stage three project I have decided to explore the industrialisation of death in our current society. My examination begins with a look at the gradual change in the perception of death, from the classical age to the modern day. By taking a genealogical approach to this historical change I am able to identify the specific reasons for these changes and reflect upon what significance these changes have on the perceived meaning of death. Beginning with the role in which death played in the Classical Age, I examined how death was once understood as a harsh reality of life to which everyone was made aware through events such as the bubonic plague and the limitations in medical knowledge. After which I explored the gradual development of anatomical pathology in the modern age and the effect that demography, pathology and sociology had and currently have on how death is now approached. In particular I looked at the importance that has been placed on defining death in terms of its physiological cause and the implication that this definition has on each of the specific areas of study I have mentioned. By understanding the changes that have occurred between these two points of history, I highlight the key issues that are involved in the industrialisation of death and what exactly this means in relation to our individual approach to death and our common understanding.
Following this I introduced the philosophical theory of Martin Heidegger and his explanation of death in relation to his phenomenological task to uncover true meaning in ‘Being and Time’. By setting out a brief explanation of how Heidegger attempts to understand the meaning of being in general through human experience, I examine the significance that death has in making possible the discovery of true meaning. From this I moved onto Heidegger’s later work, ‘The Question Concerning Technology’ and his thought on the role of technology in the pursuit of understanding being and the distinction he makes between authentic and inauthentic perception. It is at this point where I applied the issues I raised, in the study of my concept, to Heideggerian theory and translate what effect the industrialisation of death has had on the authenticity of understanding the true meaning of death in the modern day. In conclusion I offered a personal insight to my opinion on the impact that contemporary society has had on our perceived meaning of death and what significance this has to our eventual confrontation with death.
Object – Popular music. • I shall study Schopenhauer in order to establish how ideas concerning music have changed over time. • For Schopenhauer music is a good, an end in itself. • Music is set aside from all the other art forms, it does not simply manifest the ideas of the will but is a direct expression of the will. • Music is the key to suspending will for a moment through an aesthetic break from everyday pain. Adorno. • Popular music is an instrument for another good instead of an end in itself. • The function of the culture industry is ultimately to organise leisure time in the same way as industrialisation has organised work time. • Customers of musical entertainment are themselves objects of the same mechanisms which determine the production of popular music. Their spare time serves only to reproduce their working capacity. • Work leads to mass culture and mass culture leads back to work. Popular music is standardized, and in order to conceal this standardization, the music industry engages in pseudo individualisation. Thus listeners are kept inline by making them forget that what they listen to is already pre digested. Problems with Adorno. Popular music has changed a lot since Adorno who was writing in 1941. Is it still as monolithic as he would have us believe? Does pseudo individualisation really explain things like the advent of rock and roll in 1956, the emergence of The Beatles in 1962 or punk rock in 1976? Popular music from Adorno onwards. Rock and roll as religion – a good in itself. Robert Pielke suggests that rock and roll is most properly understood as a religion that has created a transformation in culture. He compares the 6 characteristics of a religious experience presented by Rudolf Otto with feelings generated from listening to rock and roll or attending a concert. Charles Pressler and Derrida’s outline of ‘The Colossal’ The awe-inspiring concept that rock and roll presents is ‘the colossal’. The presentation of ‘the colossal’ is like an enabling energy that allows a new set of values to be taken onboard by the rock and roll audience.
My key point is to look into the fashion trends of Vivienne Westwood, I shall concentrate on the era of ‘Punk’ where Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren played a vital role. I shall compare this with the Philosophy of Georges Bataille who had an obsession with obscene things such as Human Sacrifice. Concentrating mainly on his Base Materialism and his writing’s Eroticism and Story of the Eye. Punk……. • Punk first emerged in the mid 1970s in London as an anarchic and aggressive movement. About 200 young people defined themselves as an anti-fashion urban youth street culture. Vivienne Westwood is often cited as punk’s creator, but the complex genesis of punk is also found in England’s depressed economic and socio-political conditions of the mid-1970s. Punk was as much a youthful reaction against older generations, considered oppressive and outdated, as a product of the newly recognized and influential youth culture. Creative and entrepreneurial people, such as Westwood, often contribute to an aesthetic that brings a sub cultural style to the forefront of fashion. Bataille…. This image of a torture victim from Taiwan fascinated Georges Bataille. He thought that “the expression on the man’s face is the ecstasy of sexual pleasure”. Georges Bataille believed, as Hegel did, that ‘history is dead’ that we need to come up with new and exciting ways to take society forward to a new way of living because as it is now it is boring. He believed that the key to this was through art, shocking people into change.
Territory: I chose to consider the use of nanotechnology and drugs when applied to living organisms, more specifically humans, to increase the average life time and explore the ethical implications that may be associated with it. Aim: I intend to explore the socio‐economic effects of a society in which all individuals or a select group have an extended life span, from anything between an additional 50 years of life up to, theoretically, several hundred or even thousands! At the end of my study I intend to consider if such technology can be applied, if it should be applied and in what capacity. Concepts: I shall be considering the philosophical dilemmas presented by specialist scholars in the field of my study as well as deliberating issues I have considered myself. To help me consider these issues I shall apply the philosophies of Mill’s Utilitarianism and Nietzschean thought to see if either, both or neither can agree on specific aspects of the study.
This project began with Bill Drummond’s poster, Notice. For Drummond, the digitization and instant access to music through the internet has rendered recorded music a dead art form. To try and understand Drummond’s perception, I have chosen to examine three moments where technology had altered musical production and dissemination: – (1) The birth of notation. (2) The advent of file-sharing software such as Napster. (3) The rise of house music and ecstasy culture where DJs perform using recorded music. Throughout, I have used Deleuze and Guatarri’s A Thousand Plateaus as a conceptual tool-kit. Drawing on their notion of the rhizome, faciality, the refrain, becoming-imperceptible and micro-politics I have attempted to understand both these three movements and develop an approach to music itself. In order to cast some light on Drummond’s perception of recorded music as a single, irrelevant genre, I have turned to Adorno’s conception of the culture industry. Through Derrida’s Dissemination, I have attempted to show that the dichotomy between recording and performance cannot be sustained and that the musical experience returns the listener to the play of differance.
Object: I chose to examine the concept of war and terror and if it is really possible to fight in order to restore peace. The main focus of my project lay in the idea that war will only spawn more hatred, and so creating a war with the objective of bringing peace to a society is an impossibility. In conjunction with this I attempted to look at the reasons why people agree to war, and the freedom of British citizens when they agree to join the Army. Territory: When I originally decided upon a territory I chose the ‘War on Terror’, namely the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Upon further investigation it became clear to me that these were two separate wars with different focuses and motivations, and so I shifted the focus of my project solely to the war in Iraq, and the reasons for and against this war. I also looked at the concept of the British Army and the reasons behind why soldiers are deployed to fight in what was not a British fight to begin with. The Philosophy behind my project: Gadamer and Death: One of the concepts that became most clear to me was that of the idea of the repression of death. Gadamer notes that society’s perception of death had changed, and I examined if this affected the decision of those joining the Army. Kant, Freedom and Duty: I also looked at the idea of whether the innate sense of duty that we possess, according to Kant, affects the decisions we make in everyday life, such as joining the Army. I also discussed how much freedom we actually have, when, if you join the Army, you have to sign up for a minimum period of time, and you can be forcibly deployed to fight in wars you might not believe in.
Territory/object: Marriage/Thai Brides. Concepts: contract, marriage, freedom/autonomy, love. Thinkers/texts: Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals, Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Change/contrast: contrast between Thai Bride marriages/modern day British marriages. Contrast object with arranged marriages and love marriages. Main objective: My project is driven by the intuition that our normal Western understanding of marriage as the lifetime union of two loved ones, (under a public formal contract), is questionably going to become a thing of the past. Here, we must take into consideration factors such as: -the world interacting on an unprecedented technological advances,(Internet access, accessibility to cheap travel, etc) and, -more importantly, the resulting impact of influential views from different cultures upon each other. I will be investigating what marriage is in today’s world/in the past, and whether much has really changed. I also ask the question as to whether modern Britain has time for love? Intended knowledge outcomes: By engaging in this project, I intend to: 1. learn about the historical origins of marriage; 2. be acquainted with the standard descriptions of an authentic marriage and the justifications of these; 3. be able to define the central concepts of marriage and property; 4. demonstrate the connection between my key texts and everyday understandings of a phenomenon (here, marriage).
In this project I am using the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton as my territory and focus on the character of John Hammond and his desire to recreate an extinct species. I will explore the ethical implications involving scientific knowledge in a postmodern world. I am going to look at Jurassic Park and show that once Hammond starts creating dinosaurs it becomes a social labour. Once this happens without ethical restraints chaos can ensue. I will begin with an overview of the story, I will then explain how the story shows that an independent enquiry becomes a social labour when Hammond’s team start creating dinosaurs, and as a result their actions affect other people. Once I have shown this the need for an ethical theory to restrict social, (in this case of Hammond’s recreation of dinosaurs) will become clear. I will consider whether two different ethical theories would have allowed Jurassic Park. The ethical theories I will consider applying will be Mill’s Utilitarianism and Kant’s Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives. The reason I have chosen to explore these is because one is teleological and the other is deontological. I will compare and contrast the opposing theories and evaluate whether either can provide a good model for making ethical decisions with reference to social labour. I will then add a brief summary of what I have discussed.
Territory: Four businesses operating in the UK retail sector of industry and their company websites. Areas of Investigation: • Company values and the role and functions of these in business. • The ‘relationship’ between business and its customers and how this is changing as a result of the internet. • Marketing and advertisement techniques and the possible effects they might have on consumers. • Crisis of legitimation and the poststructuralist interpretations of western society. Philosophical Thinkers Involved: Nietzsche’s ‘Will to Power’ exposes fundamental issues with values in retail business practises. As a result conceptions of power are considered in the forms expressed by Foucault and Thomas to see how this affects the position of the consumer. Baudrillard’s ideas of simulacra and simulation were then used to highlight possible reasons for company values in relation to how we perceive the real. Further exposition of the consumer relation to business was carried out through the work of Jean François Lyotard and Gianni Vattimo. Conclusions: Businesses values are not legitimate but instead the result of our interactions as consumers; our purchases can actually shape society making our relationship with business an active one instead of passive. The overall conception of business as a physical entity is misleading as it has no fixed point; businesses are sociological phenomenon that reflects the general will of society because they are governed by the pragmatics of economics and are fundamentally made from members of that society.
TERRITORY: THE DRUG WAR As the world’s largest exporter of Cocaine, accounting for around 80% of all Cocaine consumed in the USA, the impact on Colombian society has been profound affecting every aspect of society. Colombian drug trafficking up to the early 1990’s was run by 4 main Drug Cartels who controlled every aspect of society including infiltrating the government using ruthless methods to maintain dominance such as, murder, kidnap intimidation, bribery etc… OBJECT: FARC – EP This left wing Colombian Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group originated in the 1960’s and are fighting the government to make communist reforms. These guerrillas are located in the hard to reach jungles of Colombia and are one of the richest terror groups in the world due to their involvement with drug trafficking. Other methods of financing include kidnapping high profile figures for ransom and exchange of prisoners. Recent military attacks and the deaths of the two top leaders have put the future of the organisation in doubt. Has the revolt com to its end? PARALLEL: PARAMILITARIES IN N. IRELAND POST GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT After 30 years of civil unrest in N.I. paramilitaries position in society were effectively made redundant. Many of the organisations turned to criminal activities such as drugs, extortion, gun crime and racketeering. Many of the activities had previously used to fund the groups in their political ambitions but with ideology gone all that has been left is criminality. This is comparable to FARC where their adventure into drug trafficking has blurred their political ideology. CONCEPTS: REVOLUTION AND HISTORY USING MARX AND FUKUYAMA I will be exploring the territory and object using Marx and Fukuyama and their respective theories of history both influenced by Hegel. Using Marx I shall be asking whether or not communism is a redundant ideology in the 21st century due to the dramatic shift in the political climate in the past 100 years. Using Fukuyama’s ‘End of History and The Last Man’ I’ll be investigating whether in fact Liberal Democracy is the final frontier in political ideology as it has proven to be the most stable over since its genesis. Is this the final stage or is Revolution still possible in the 21st Century?
When we fall in love, we fall first for the physical appearance and then for the beauty that the other embodies. We fall in love with the ‘who’ that radiates through a face and a body. In that gaze we unite the flesh and spirit of the loved one and reveal them as an unrepeatable existence. Lovers perceive their fragility in the world, and so they entrust each other to corporeal language, and by exposing themselves to each other, seek an unrepeatable, whole and necessary existence (Cavarero: 2000). The amorous game creates a scene for the unification of body and mind, a place where the content of being can be released. In this unification you can feel as though you are part of the world soul, fragile in the external yet consumed by the fleeting power to appreciate ulterior forms; to know love and to know what it is to exist
Outline: I aim to explore the concept of anxiety, loss of meaning and absurdity of life as presented within “Existentialist” narrative. In evoking these ideas from specific novels I will analyse them more precisely with relation to Martin Heidegger’s concept of anxiety. Territory: In particular I will be studying Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, Albert Camus’ The Outsider, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground, and Leo Tolstoy’s A Confession. In examining these texts I hope to explore how the idea of loss of meaning is presented and focus particularly upon the individual’s coming to terms with the absurdity of life. Philosophical Material: The philosopher that I have chosen to focus on is Martin Heidegger and particularly his concept of anxiety within his work What is Metaphysics? Here Heidegger produces an account which indicates how the individual is able to think about and question their own existence and how, through the state of anxiety, they are able to reflect upon “the nothing” that appears on their horizon of thought. As well as analysing What is Metaphysics? I shall also use Heidegger’s Being and Time, On the Essence of Truth and The Origin of the Work of Art to indicate the significant role that this concept of anxiety plays within his greater philosophy. Where Heidegger builds upon a philosophy considering the individual I shall also look at the work of Emmanuel Levinas, who concentrates on a more social philosophy, in order to bring contrast to Heidegger’s thought. In his struggle to come to terms with a finite existence Leo Tolstoy was torn between suicide and religion. The struggle of the individual’s existence is the concept that lies at the heart of my project.
-Are the ideas of institutions such as museums and libraries relevant any longer in postmodern society? – People are increasingly becoming very distanced from their past and their heritage. Within postmodernity, the past seems to have been separated from our everyday lives. It is frequently looked at as something that is no longer relevant. We sometimes seem so focused on progress that we ignore how we came to be where we are in the first place – Can development exist without any reference to the past? – In modernity we look at the past because we can see the ways in which it has affected and created the present, and will do also, for the future, therefore, we cannot fully separate the idea of development from a narrative of history. I am looking at the ways in which institutions such as museums and libraries contribute to growing knowledge and inventiveness, by enabling us to have access to the knowledge, discoveries and great works of the past.Table2[@Title]
TERRITORY: The American Dream. CONCEPTS: The Individual Vs Society, Equality Happiness and Fulfilment, Freedom. PHILOSOPHICAL THINKERS/TEXTS: Rousseau: and his theory of the social contract- The individual vs Society & Equality. John Locke: The 2 Treatises of Government. The natural rights of men and Government- Equality and the individual and society. Mill & Bentham: The theory of Utilitarianism and what it means to be happy for society and the individual. Problems? Is the American dream just a myth? Can society and individual peacefully co-exist? Are all people truly equal in their attempt to obtain their American dream?
I will explore the life and work of Philip K. Dick, best known for writing Science Fiction, by closely examining a number of his novels, as well as a selection of his non-fictional, philosophical, theological and literary writings, coupled with information obtained from biographies and interviews with the man himself. The main themes permeating his life and work which I will explore are the nature of reality, the psyche and humanity, especially in relation to contemporary capitalist society. Of particular interest will be his exploration of the concepts of sanity, considering his views on schizophrenia and paranoia, and his treatment of ideas about selfhood, identity and subjectivity. I will explore these areas in terms of the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, both alone and in collaboration with Felix Guattari. I will pay particular attention to the concepts of schizoanalysis, rhizomatics, territorialization, lines of flight, nomadology, becomings, machines and difference. My aim, rather than to reach a definitive conclusion, is simply to explore the vast and complex works of both men, using each to shed light on the other, and to pose questions, rather than propose answers, which will have a profound effect on the way we view the world.