Aim To investigate the relationship between human consciousness and text and images. Territory The ‘handwriting on the wall’. Objectives 1. To explore the key concepts of postmodernism, post-structuralism, interpretation, hermeneutics and deconstruction amongst others, as introduced by postmodernists such as Barthes, Derrida, Foucault and Gadamer. 2. To trace some of the patterns in graffiti and explore its explosion since the late 1960’s. To establish if postmodernism has effected the way we view, read and interpret graffiti. To understand how graffiti has changed so much in a relatively small period of time and the world events and cultural variations that have influenced it. To study graffiti’s increased universalism and the proliferation of styles. 3. To make a distinction between humans and the outside events that influence and determine their lives. Does graffiti bridge any gaps? Method Close reading of postmodernist texts such as Derrida’s ‘Of Grammatology’ and Gadamer’s ‘Truth and Method’ as well as analysis of examples of graffiti from ancient Rome to modern contemporary artists such as Banksy.
Category: Abstracts
Objectives: • To what extent has this notion of rights evolved over time, from the ancient Greeks to the present day? • To what extent do non-human animals possess legal and/or moral rights? • Depending on whether animals do or do not possess legal and/or moral rights I will determine why it is that they do, or do not possess these rights and what has changed. Structure: 1st Chapter: I will trace the notion of ‘Rights’ through the Western Philosophical Tradition from Aristotle to Darwin. I will determine whether or not they believed animals to possess intrinsic value and moral standing; did animals possess rights and if they did not, did they believe that they should. 2nd Chapter: I will look at the 1970’s onwards, what has been referred to as ‘the Greening of Philosophy.’ To what extent has the notion of moral consideration for animals changed? Do animals possess rights, if so, do they possess significantly more rights? 3rd Chapter: I will determine whether animals do, or do not possess legal rights and/or moral rights? Why is it that they do, or do not possess these rights and to what extent has this notion of ‘Rights’ changed? Change: I will look at the 1970’s as the key change as there was an emergence of interest in environmental philosophy and the belief in both moral consideration and moral standing for animals. I will examine to what extent there has been a change in both legal rights and moral rights for animals. Did they and/or do they possess such rights? If there has been a change, Why? Sources: Law Relating to Animals, Brooman and Legge. The Rights of Nature, Nash. Rights, Jones. Animal Rights and Human Obligations, Regan and Singer. Respect for Nature A Theory of Environmental Ethics, Taylor. Animal Rights – a Symposium, Ryder. Environmental Ethics, What Really Matters, What Really Works, Schmidtz and Willot.
This project aims to investigate the current growth in popularity of traditional eastern philosophy and practices in western developed societies. In particular, I aim to investigate how the current popularity of eastern martial arts, which I believe to be indicative of this interest, demonstrates a general trend in our heavily industrialised, materialistic society, to seek answers to epistemological and ethical questions outside of a purely rational or religious framework. Fundamentally, this trend reflects a desire to liberate ourselves from what Max Weber refers to as the ‘iron cage of bureaucracy ’ Part 1 : The condition of modernity. Part 2 : Contrasting West and East. Holism as a remedy for a fragmentary existence. Part 3 : The martial arts as philosophy in action.
This project will address the transition in human mediation between self, society and world affected by the transition from religious mediation to financial mediation. The problem will be posed from the perspective of circulation and the historical consequences suspected to arise from unrestricted human interaction. Broadly speaking the project will focus on; *The framing of transgression and taboo in Hittite, Scriptural, Roman, Ecclesiastical and British Civil law *The Council of Elvira and the formulation of the principle of una cara by Basil the Great *The birth of the Bank of England and consequent transfer of value and mediation *The contemporary economic situation which, with the demand for deregulation of markets and increasing tendency toward investment in areas of low governance leaves social mediation almost entirely up to finance and credit- the promise of value rather than value itself
This philosophy project will evaluate the notion of science, technology and capitalism as an abstract organising mechanism. It will attempt to show the turn in philosophy in ways to redeem the primacy of bodily life and creativity and its influence on the order of things. Abstract: Topic and Key Concepts Capitalism is conceived by production and efficiency. Bataille and Deleuze and Guattari show that one is compelled to participate as a producer in society via the economic infrastructure, and as a consumer via cultural mediation. In essence the human condition is confined by an ‘abstract order’, being that of capitalism. The project will evaluate the shift in consciousness, perception and communication. It will assess the ability to understand and absorb the impact of technological and other changes, how basic human ‘drives’ are related, for example, to a well-functioning economic system, to a balance of conversation and change, and to the production of functionally useful patterns of society. . An evaluation on the various means and manifestations denying such abstract representative systems in society: – Through Transgressions – Drugs. Stimulants and Dampeners – Idleness – Counter-Institutions – Revolution – Terrorism It will evaluate political, economic and media examples of representative systems evaluating the ways in which technology has been imagined and theorised during recent history exploring its impact on the producing and consuming individual. It will assess the propagation of ‘events’ and will assess the manifestations of the rejection of functionally useful patterns of society, i.e. the intensification of the working day. Sources: Heidegger: ‘On the Question Concerning Technology’, Deleuze and Guattari’s: ‘Anti Oedipus’, Bataille: The Accursed Share, Baudrillard Jean: The Mirror of Production and Simulations, Beck U: Reflexive Modernisation
Part One – Knowledge of the Unconscious In what way is the unconscious knowable, an object available to knowledge? A look at the analogies Freud uses to describe psychoanalysis as a method capable of producing knowledge, and analysis as cure through knowledge. In what ways does the notion of the unconscious make ideas about a monogamous knowledge of (and authority on) itself problematical? Do I know, or am I paranoid? (Sources: Freud, Kant) Part Two – Lyotard, Knowledge, and Paralogy Drawing on the work of Lyotard we can sketch out an account of the unconscious as an effect of phrases. The human as a node, or knot, in a complex of relations that pre-exist her – as embedded. What is the place of the affect in the work of Lyotard, and where does he place it? The move to psychoanalysis as flirtation – the promiscuous movement among beds. (Sources: The Postmodern Condition, The Differend, The Inhuman) Part Three – Practise in Paralogy, Paralogy in Practise Using the findings of part two we can offer an account of why Adam Phillips writes the way he writes that turns around the work of Lyotard. Is Phillips the last psychoanalytic writer (is he a psychoanalytic writer?)? Has promiscuity brought about the end of the psychoanalytic relationship? The replacement of psychoanalysis as epistemology by psychoanalysis as ethos. (Sources: Lyotard, Adam Phillips, Jacqueline Rose, D.W.Winnicott)
Outline of Place: What is and what makes a person an ‘outsider’? An investigation of selected ‘outsiders’ with reference to and analysis of Albert Camus’ Outsider and The Rebel, Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, theory of existentialism and the sociology of deviance; why some people choose to be outsiders or rebel against society. I will be looking into the reasons of why some people simply cannot be part of society. Typical outsiders keep to themselves; they are existentialist types and stay out of people’s way, looking out mainly only for themselves; refusing to be emotionally attached in any way. Camus’ character Meursault, in The Outsider, has the mind and curiosity of a child, he does not understand the rules of life, he does not act accordingly as people would expect one to act in society. He cannot however get away with it like a child could; the distraction of things in a room is overpowering when he should be listening to people and behaving a proper way. He is condemned for this and sentenced to death, as he is unwilling to pretend any emotions or defend himself with little white lies in the court of justice. One must however not compare this to Socrates, who refused to deny his beliefs for the sake of life; it an absurd attitude this outsider has towards society that inevitably dooms him. Aim: This project will be a piece by piece report and examination of these selected texts, with philosophical reasoning applied as to why these outsiders simply do not fit into society and are not considered to be the norm. Their thinking and mentality will be examined; what exactly this indifferent, unsocial attitude signifies and why it is this way. Answers to absurd behaviour and this completely different perspective of life will result through this investigation. Criticisms by and for authors will feature as well as points of views. References: Main Texts: Camus, Albert The Outsider & The Rebel, Sartre, Jean-Paul Nausea & selected texts on Existentialism, Analysing Texts and Commentaries: Becker, Howard Outsiders: Sociology of Deviance, Thody, Philip Albert Camus 1913-1960, Wilson, Colin The Outsider, A selection of definitive websites will be used also.
Territory & Objectives: My project investigates the way in which we impose received value systems upon the world around us, and how those standards are also mapped upon the individual body as carrier of those principles of the dominant societal mode thus affecting our relationships with one another. It shows that living within the context of capitalism shapes the criteria of these docile evaluations, and demonstrates how this system of evaluation self-referentially recourses to fortify the capitalist social system through flux and change. Discussion will move on to consider in detail how locally received examples of information disseminated by globally operating media cartels act to coerce individuals’ lifestyle investment in the authority of the system. This will be orientated by the appraisal of lifestyle magazines, exploring how the discourses of desire within the grand schema of capitalism set standards of normative criteria which are employed in a self-policing system of adherence to what it means to be a good consumer. These various lifestyle aspects by various publications persuade the individual, critically disengaged, to regard themselves as the aspiring capitalist critically engaged in the labour of consumption and therefore active in the formation of their lives and their relationships with other people. Rather than promoting multi-cultural, inter-disciplinary engagement in the process of being, the imperative to consume, saturated throughout commercial repertoires, in fact causes and substantiates rival economies and inequalities between individuals, between factions and at the level of global market forces. Further, the effect of tying consumption, through advertising, to normative standards set, makes it almost impossible to recognise the specificity of an individual. Rather, we evaluate ourselves and others against normative standards which discourage empathy for our fellow man, a state of affairs which may have dire consequences. Finally then, this paper will suggest what possibilities remain for communication between us with a view to the reformation of a networked community in response to the alienation and apathy of the individual in high capitalism. Change: The way in which advertising has tied consumption to normative values which are themselves set with the imperative to consume in mind. The overall effect is to diminish greatly one’s scope for specificity, and to create conflicts of interest. Sources: Foucault, M., The History of Sexuality I: The Will to Knowledge, Penguin, 1998; Foucault, M., The Archaeology of Knowledge, Routledge 1994, Bristol; Foucault, M., Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. Gordon, C., Pantheon Books 1989, New York; Blanchot, M., Literature and the Right to Death, The Station Hill Blanchot Reader, Station Hill Press 1999, Barrytown; Marx, K., Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx: Selected Writings, Ed. McLellan, D., Oxford University Press 1977
Using the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari I will discuss the revolutionary potential of music. I will so do with reference to the Black movement in America. My main aim is to show how, through the music of blues and jazz, Blacks constructed a culture of resistance; giving rise to their freedom and subsequent status as citizen in America. I will look at … the deterritorialising power of music: how traditional blues and jazz improvisation deviate from formal musical structures to produce new forms of expression, and how the oppressive routine, and identity of the slave may have been ruptured by the singular effects of such music. … how blues and jazz incorporates both African and Western references to form an intensification of multiple heterogeneous and non-heterogeneous relations that are productive of different modes of thought and experience. … how Blacks found a distinct voice through their music, and how this led to their becoming other than slave, and to their emancipation.
A production by Gemma Madden featuring: – an exploration into the rise of marxism – a study into theatre from the greeks to Marx – Brecht’s new theatre and its aim to change the world – the decline of political theatre today ‘a view into the rise and fall of political theatre’
“Using the BBC sitcom the office as a stereotype; a philosophical analysis of the changing conditions power and resistance embrace in the corporate workplace.” Key Concepts/ Words: – Power, ethics, morality, will, resistance, autonomy, freedom, motivation, existence, capitalism, fordism, post-fordism, hybridisation, bureaucracy, red-tape, bio-power, hierarchy, top-down, bottom up, modernity, postmodernity, globalisation. Objectives: – Using the office as a model, I intend to investigate some of the pivotal questions of power, resistance and autonomy which arise when humans interface in the corporate environment. Sources: – Sourcing from books, library journals and internet journals. Original and secondary writings of Nietzsche, Foucault, Heidegger and Machiavelli. – the office first and second series, also related internet sites. – Background reading of business ethics and the condition of postmodernity. Change: – The paradigm shifts between modernity and postmodernity, Fordism and flexible accumulation. How factors such as technological advance, globalization and the drive for ‘the American dream’ affect human behaviour in the business environment. The gap between humans and things: – Man and technology. – The gap between man and the material world. – Man and globalization.
TITLE- Outline and consider how the philosophical concepts of power within institutions, according to Foucault, may be useful in assisting us to understand the change in power struggles between modern football clubs (as institutions) and their players (as individuals) compared with clubs first formed. Evaluate how this balance of power has shifted from the intuitions to the individual in the last hundred years and argue to what extent this relationship is also evident between the Football Association and Premier League. AIMS/OBJECTIVES- To show how Michel Foucault’s characterization of power in his works Power/Knowledge, The History of Sexuality and The Birth of the Clinic can be used a basis to explain the power struggles that exist between football clubs and their players. Show the factors/changes in rules of game that led to the balance of power shifting from club to players as a result of specific legal milestones such as the Eastham case or Bosman case which arguably laid the foundations for players to contest the supreme power of clubs. How this change has come about and to what extent The Football Association, as an oppressive institution, is to blame. In Foucault’s essay The Subject and Power, he outlines what he calls anti-authority struggles that will always develop between individuals and institutions and can be explained in terms of power struggles when the individuals reject the way in which certain institutions. Consequently, can power struggles in football, therefore, be explained in terms of this anti-authority struggle postulated by Foucault. Outline the changes in philosophical concept of power and how the definition has been adapted for to explain relations of power within institutions. Power promotes a delusion of one’s self-importance in the world, and this egotism leads to the illusion of the social effectiveness of power as an instrument that is used to control others. I will use the notion of change to show how change is fundamental when philosophically explaining the concept of power struggles within football institutions, because power is defined as the control of change and accordingly power is greater when there is control over change. CHANGE-In the 1880s football clubs had overall power (oppressive power as Foucault puts it) over players but today players (as individuals resisting to this power) now have power over clubs. Not only this, but the Football Association previously exercised similar power over the Premier League but now the Premier League has also become more powerful. FIELD OF EXPLORATION- How Foucault’s notion of power within institutions, as portrayed in his works power/knowledge, The History of Sexuality and The Birth of the Clinic, is relevant to the power relationship between the Football Association and the Premier League and between football clubs and players.
Territory: Prague Objective: To suck out one’s innermost self in order to take on solid form Method: Through the unquestioning belief that the golem exists, a psychic explosion occurs which ‘whips our dream-consciousness out into the daylight, creating a ghost whose countenance, gait and gestures inevitably reveal the symbol of the collective soul to each and every one of us…’ For More Information: consult Gustav Meyrink Reward For Capture: 2000 Kĉ
A philosophical inquiry into the architects new best friend: a discussion regarding the use of space in relation to design. Territory and field of exploration. Modern and contemporary interior design and interior architecture, specifically the trend in open-plan ‘new york’ style penthouses and lofts. Closer to home the recent trends in Newcastle’s slick and stylish quayside developments. Key concepts and ideas to be investigated. – Architectual space-in relation to the object and process of design – Concepts of purpose, function and place in relation to design – Minimalist approaches to design, style and manipulation of space. “Architecture is like clay held between the fingers of both hands- recording their movements. One hand is the human will, the other is the condition of the environment, architecture is the record of this conversation between the two- it is the medium to reunite them”. My project will aim at showing how the acceptance of space as a valuable architectual tool bridges the gap between humans and the things they witness around them- this space can then be shaped and sculpted by the process of interior design and the placement of objects- drawing the architect and the object closer together in a relationship previously unseen in interior design. My project will also try and identify a clear and distinct change in architectual intentions- the shift from purpose to design and the notion of design for the sake of design.
Objective: · To investigate the philosophical concepts that determined the notion of ‘womanhood’ in society. · To establish if these philosophical concepts underpin the norms that determine the notion of womanhood in Victorian and Modern society. · To determine to what extent these norms have changed from the Victorian period, through to the Modern period. Part 1: This section focuses on dualism. Dualism exists due to a denied dependency on an inferior other and it is through this, that a domination/subordination relationship is formed. Through looking at dualism’s such as: public/private, human/nature, rationality/irrationality, one can see that all those on the left, superior side relate to masculinity and reason and all those on the right, inferior side relate to femininity and nature. In order to ascertain why women are perceived as inferior and subordinate to men, and furthermore why they are associated with nature, one will examine the key dichotomous relationships: human/nature, rationality/irrationality and public/private. The purpose of examining philosophical concepts is to understand the norms that determined the notion of ‘womanhood’ and to then analyse to what extent these norms have changed from the Victorian to the Modern period. Sources: L McDowell and K Pringle, Defining Women: Social Institution and Gender Divisions. Morwenna Griffiths and Margaret Whitford, Feminist Perspectives in Philosophy. Val Plumwood, Feminism and The Mastery of Nature. Part 2: This section focuses on the norms that determine the notion of ‘womanhood’ in Victorian society. It analyses to what extent the philosophical concepts mentioned in the first section are apparent in the Victorian period. Women’s association with nature is a prominent theme, suggesting that women were in more in tune with their bodies, hence, more emotional and irrational. Women’s relation to the home was a fundamental feature of the nineteenth century. Women were placed in the private sphere due to their association with nature and irrationality, whereas men’s association with intellect and reason placed them in the material world, in the public sphere. An example of a Victorian woman is provided. Florence Nightingale is discussed, showing how she can be seen as reacting against the norms that determined the notion of ‘womanhood’ in Victorian society. Sources: Duncan Crow, The Victorian Women. Ema Olatson Hellerstein, Leslie Parker Hume and Karen M Offen, Victorian Women. Gordon Marsden, Victorian Values, Personalities and Perspectives in Nineteenth Century Society. Cecil Woodham Smith, Florence Nightingale 1820-1910. Julia Swindells, Victorian Writing and Working Women. Part 3: This section concentrates on the Modern period. Along with the Modern period came feminism. This ideology could be seen as replacing the ‘woman movement’ of the Victorian period. A change is evident in the Modern period regarding the dualism’s which are present in the Victorian period. During the twentieth century women were becoming more independent and could be seen to be turning their back on the domestic sphere, hence women’s place in the private sphere was not so rigid. Also, through sexual expression women wanted to make themselves equal to the male. In order to highlight the norms that determine the notion of ‘womanhood’ in Modern society, one focuses on an example of a Modern Woman, Hannah Arendt. Sources: Nancy F Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism. Elzbieta Ettinger, Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. Elizabeth Gross, Knowing Women, Feminism and Knowledge. Part 4: This section establishes the changes that occur from the Victorian through to the Modern period. It concentrates on the key dichotomous relationships, public/private, rationality/irrationality, human/nature. It focuses on women’s association with nature, irrationality and the private sphere which characterise the Victorian period, and examines to what extent these philosophical concepts have changed by the twentieth century. Sources: Nancy F Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism. Morwenna Griffiths and Margaret Whitford, Feminist Perspectives in Philosophy. R Minsky, Knowing Women: Feminism and Knowledge. Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature.
In this project I will analyse some of the conflicts of contemporary society encapsulated within its imagery; simulacra of efficiency embedded in a reality of waste, of quiescent order embedded in chaos. Globalisation and the fracturing of the concept of working subject brought about by issues of gender, race and sexuality have created a social environment torn between a politics of body and globe. This project, in its two constituent parts, will therefore focus on the inter-relation between the two and how transformations in each area have come to affect the discourse of resistance. Objectives 1) To examine how transformations in the organisation of the Western worlds socio-economic constitution have elicited a change in the relationship between the working subject and the world 2) To analyse the transitions in production which, at their highest level, move increasingly from the production of goods (factory labour) to the production of social life itself 3) To describe the ever changing composition of the subject itself under capital 4) To examine the impact of ‘high-technologies’ in communications industries on both the individual and the collective organisation of our society Sources Hardt + Negri- Empire, Harvey- Spaces of Hope, Marx + Engles- Collected Writings, Dyer-Whiteford- Cyber-Marx
CONCEPTS/KEY WORDS: Thinking Machines: Philosophical implications of artificial intelligence, machines emulating human behaviour, Turing Test, notions of behaviourism, dualism and materialism, free will and determinism, strong and weak AI and intelligence. Mechanical Thinkers Affect of rise of technology on human behaviour. Dehumanising effect of treating people as machines in the work place. Modern emphasis on productivity, efficiency, and systematisation. Leisure time. Importance of play, playing at work, modern day work practices. OBJECTIVES 1. To investigate the philosophical implications of Artificial Intelligence, looking at factors that are taken into consideration outside the mathematical workings of a thinking machine such as notions of intelligence, behaviourism and free will. 2. To understand the philosopher Martin Heidegger’s opinion of the effect of technology on the world and on humans as a whole in his essay The Question Concerning Technology. 3. To look at a more modern interpretation of the effects of technology by way of Donald Norman, an expert on the human-side of technology, and his book The Invisible Computer. 4. To look at ways to combat the feeling of dehumanisation in using technology, particularly in the workplace, by investigating modern day work practices that incorporate work and play. SOURCES: Gottfried Leibniz, Alan Turing, Rene Descartes, Aaron Sloman, Donald Norman, Martin Heidegger, Herbert Marcuse, Institute for Play. PROJECT TERRITORY/FIELD OF EXPLORATION: I will use two companies that have adopted unconventional work practices in order to preserve the well being of their employees, producing a healthier environment which promotes quality of work rather than quantity. I will use an advertising agency called St. Lukes in London and a number of companies in the US who have adopted ingenious ways of improving their working environments. CHANGE The changes I will show are through the developments in the idea of a thinking machine, the change in the rise of technology and the way in which it affects our lives today. The difference in thought between Martin Heidegger and Donald Norman. THE GAP BETWEEN HUMANS AND THINGS Obvious separation of mind and matter is involved, the implications of modelling a machine on the brain, the difficulty for humans to work with machines that do not function as humans do, the separation between the individual and society when progress, and society with it, no longer facilitate individuality. My project tries to bridge the gap between humans and computers by trying to establish a healthier attitude towards them, especially in the workplace.
KEY CONCEPTS/ WORDS Enlightenment, Modernity, Rationalizing, Technology, Efficiency, Town Planning, Functionalist. Post modernity, Inspiration, Progression, Shift in systems, Design, Fragmentation, Pastiche, Eclecticism, Existentialism. OBJECTIVES 1. To study the different styles and progressions of architecture in Newcastle. 2. To look at the political and economic forces that have affected the changing of the cities landscape. 3. To analyse social forces that have initiated the architectural changes. 4. To examine prominent architects and philosophers that have altered the direction of modern and postmodern thinking. SOURCES Books borrowed from Newcastle Upon Tyne University Library. Photos taken in the center of Newcastle, visual media gathered from books, internet sites, magazines, leaflets and newspaper articles. FIELD OF EXPLORATION I am going to look at how the fabric of Newcastle’s architecture has evolved over the past one hundred years. By using photographic data gathered in Newcastle I will be able to draw upon examples which can be analyzed with reference to famous architects of the era. The modern and postmodern architecture of Newcastle lends itself to philosophical and sociological interpretation. CHANGE My project will be looking at the progressions that have forced the architectural changes upon Newcastle. I am hoping to illustrate the shift from modern architecture to postmodern architecture and the philosophical themes that have brought them about. THE GAP BETWEEN HUMANS AND THINGS My aim here is to highlight how man has become disenchanted with the Enlightenment project and scientific progress. Disunity of knowledge in the postmodern era has led to a more confusing, pastiche and fragmented way of interpreting society. This incredulity has in some ways widened the gap between humans and things.
CONCEPTS Modernity, Postmodernity, Globalisation and McDonaldization. OBJECTIVES 1. To define as clearly as possible the concepts above. 2. To investigate and explain as clearly as possible the change from modernity to postmodernity. 3. To demonstrate how postmodernity manifest itself in the familiar concepts of globalisation and McDonaldization, as something which may be considered distinct from, and yet also an extension of, modernity. 4. To show how we can identify this in our locality, by looking at the fast food industry on Northumberland Street. SOURCES Spaces of Hope – David Harvey The post-modern & the post-industrial – Margaret Rose After Liberalism – Immanuel Wallerstein Postmodern Culture – Hal Foster (Ed.) Consumer Culture and Modernity – Jim McGuigan Jean Baudrillard Selected Writings – Mark Poster (Ed.) The Consumer Society – Jean Baudrillard Fast Food Nation – Eric Schlosser The McDonaldization of Society – George Ritzer Globalization – Malcolm Walters PROJECT TERRITORY/FIELD OF EXPLORATION I am attempting to trace the change in society from the modernity established during the enlightenment period to the postmodernity of today. To show that we are truly in a period of postmodernity I shall investigate the familiar concepts of globalisation and McDonaldization. Here I hope to demonstrate how postmodernity exists as an extension or acceleration of modernity, before investigating the presence of postmodernity in the fast food industry of Northumberland Street.
The investigation is based on Peter Shaffer’s screenplay Amadeus, an elaborate story of the relationship between the legendary musician Wolfgang Mozart and his contemporary counterpart Antonio Salieri. Critics have interpreted the film in various ways, however its philosophical content had been left untouched. The project’s first concern is the identification of two philosophical trends within the characters of the play – Mozart being aligned to the baroque and Salieri portraying notions of traditional philosophy. The interaction of the characters in the plot in this context raises new philosophical issues such as creativity, genius, autonomy and the concept of God and also displays the philosophical influence over mans interaction with his surroundings. This discussion takes place alongside Walter Benjamin’s similar interpretation of Trauerspiel, The Origin of German Tragic Drama. The project’s second concern lies not in the content of the film but in its creation and subsequent afterlife. Shaffer constructed the play on fragments of truth regarding the real Mozart, which he then exaggerated and developed into a fictional story. This process of destruction and reconstruction is investigated in relation to Walter Benjamin’s theory of the mortification of art in which art is constantly reinterpreted to produce new meaning. Benjamin argues that through the creation of new meaning the original object is redeemed. It is the final concern of the project to investigate this theory and explore to what extent Mozart has been redeemed by Amadeus. The result is a project that not only investigates the baroque concepts of afterlife, mortification and redemption but also illustrates these notions in its method of exploration.