I wanted to explore why we (Western Society) have the belief that it is right for humans to have authority over the rest of the environment and to dominate it, utilising it however is deemed fit. My outlook within this project is to clarify differing perceptions of nature and how they are influential. My aim is to establish how society has got the perception of nature that it has. Intro: the underlying question is why do humans believe that they have the right to dominate the environment? I intend to clarify differing attitudes towards, and beliefs about nature. Discuss the different focuses of the discussion. What is nature? Different Viewpoints on Nature. Environmental ethics: anthropocentrism, speciesism, eco-feminism, humanism, idealism, deep ecology, animal rights, vegetarianism and veganism etc. What do they say about the relationship between humans and nature? How past perceptions of nature have changed e.g. Romanticism, and why has it got more controversial? Religious Concepts of Nature. Why I am looking at religious examples. Different time spans and areas. Primitive v Modern. Religion communicates social norms. Totemism. The religion, the relationship with totems. Different teachings and sacraments. What does this say about the relationship with nature? Paganism. Mother nature, link with eco-feminism. Different beliefs. Relationship with nature. Judeo-Christian beliefs. Patriarchal, anthropocentric, institutionalised. What does this say about the relationship with nature? Religious Conclusion. What do these contrasting religions communicate about man and nature? Comparison of Christianity and Paganism-Mother v Lord. Look at respect for nature in Totemism and compare this to modern Christianity. Is Christianity fundamentally anthropocentric? Dualism, Patriarchy. Ecological effort. Psychological Relationship. Importance of psychology, what can it tell us about our preconceptions of nature? Jung’s Collective Conscious. What is it? Is it plausible that our collective conscious can dictate our relationship to nature? Discussion General psychological opinion. Nativists v empiricists. Psychological Conclusion. What do these arguments infer about humanity’s attitude towards nature? Philosophical Relationship. What can philosophy tell us? Different Arguments. Kant, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Plato. Dualism v Monism. Descartes. Spinoza. What a world view’s impact on the relationship between humanity and nature is. Conclusion. Religion, Psychology, Philosophy and Sociological ⇒ what they infer? Which has the most impact? Why do we have the relationship with nature that we do?
Category: Abstracts
Territory & Field of Exploration This project will discuss the field of contemporary architecture. I want to discuss some of the major challenges that face the contemporary architect in relation to his particular ‘way of thinking’ about the problems of designing in our technological age. In Our Modern Technological Age, Can Contemporary Architecture truly appeal to The Heideggerian Notion of Dwelling? Aims & Objectives. • I will discuss Heidegger’s essay ‘Building. Dwelling, Thinking’ in order to reveal the nature of Heidegger’s notion of dwelling. • This project will discuss in detail the relationship between Building & Dwelling in order to adopt a ‘way of thinking’ about the challenge of building that may be applicable in the contemporary world. • I will discuss Heidegger’s use of ‘the poetic’, and ask weather or not there is the possibility in our contemporary world for ‘poetic building’ • This project will discuss the affect of modernity on Heidegger’s notion of dwelling, my focus will rest specifically on mans ‘homelessness’.
Part 1: The Development and Awareness of the Individual within Community. Role of Education in the Development of Faith in Children; Interplay of education and faith; Education as a resolution. Part 2: Reassessing/Reconstructing an Ethical Community. A Future Community Ethic; Necessary? Possible? What is needed to construct a future community that meets the required ethic? Aim: Looking at what brings an individual to their moral potential, investigating through faith and education. Territory: Community of South Bailey, Durham, with education and community linked through pre-school to university colleges. Paradigm Shift: Moral and community Sources:Derrida, Foucault Tolstoy, Aquinas
Prague is my chosen place for the study of my project and the development of architecture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The architecture is a mix of all time periods and have al been preserved, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque are just some of the styles that can be seen. I am focusing on the Renaissance to Baroque period and the reason for the architectural transition. Along with this transition and the reasons behind it there is the main theme of individuality and power and how these characteristics may have helped the process of Renaissance to Baroque. The individuals that could have the kind of power needed to influence a change in style are emperors, religious leaders, architects and the aristocracy. But how do these individuals use their power to influence others? Can style really be changed through the will of one person? These questions lead to an investigation of individualism and its impact and influence on others. The main buildings I am exploring are the Renaissance Beldevere, a summerhouse, built for Queen Ann, the Baroque Wallenstein Palace, the Baroque St. Nicholas Church and the cathedral of St. Vitus. These buildings are interesting to compare and contrast so as to get a real feel for the different periods and stages of development. The Belvedere- 1535-63, Renaissance Summerhouse built for Queen Anne. The idea of an individual being responsible for the development in architecture is possible but unlikely so there must be other reasons. These are blunted sensibility, advancement of architectural tools and abilities, the need for new art to admire and the natural development of style. All these have to be discussed in order to find which is most likely to have had the most influence. Religion is also a key factor in the development as the transition may be connected to the Thirty Years War and this would mean limitations or requirements were needed to be seen on buildings in order to promote or demote certain religious beliefs. Sources The Architecture of Prague and Bohemia- Brain Knox, Renaissance and Baroque – Heinrich Wolfflin, The Thirty Years War- Stephen Lee, Space, Time and Architecture- Sigfried Giedion, Rudolf II and Prague: the court and the city- Eliska Fucov, Also a study of the buildings themselves in Prague.
Objectives – To show how and why society still needs myths and magic in the ages of science and enlightenment. Method – Define the language of myth, and why we read significance into events and objects; Define the function of myths and magic in relation to the human psyche and psychoanalysis; Sources – Barthes’ Mythologies, Rollo May’s The Cry For Myth, Adorno and Horkheimer’s Dialectic Of Enlightenment.
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.
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
Beauty: There has been a pre-occupation with our society as far back as we can remember, yet we still cannot define it, due to its changing character. The fairy tale promises that we are raised on promise security, a prince Charming and that we will live ‘happily ever after’ if we attain beauty. In this project I will be investigating and forming my own concepts on the following: ~ The role of beauty in our Western selected traditional fairy tales and how they reflect our societies attitude towards it and their role in creating these conceptions. ~What constitutes a ‘beautiful’ woman in our society and how this has altered over time, is it just a fashion? ~The phenomenon of the beauty pageant and what it means to be ‘beautiful in our society. ~The desperation associated with achieving this ‘beauty’ and what happens when it goes ‘wrong.’ I will highlight these objectives using the concepts of Plotinus and the Enneads, where he looks at beauty, the soul and what constitutes beauty. I will also use some of the concepts of Kant aesthetics on ‘natural’ beauty, the purpose of beauty and the judgements of taste.
Sources: Newspaper Articles ‘The Economist’ Philosopher’s Books Literature Books and Productions Art Books Visit to the Ecuadorian Prison Visit to the Newcastle Law Courts Project Territory: Michel Foucault’s Theory on Technologies of Power Key Concepts: Technologies of Power Power over the Individual Human Beings made into Docile Bodies Human Rights Vs Homeland Security (Protection) Punishments and Prisons The Big Brother Resistance against Power Materialism Vs Spiritualism Freedom and Search for the Individual Self Objectives: Foucault had predicted the dominance of technology over our lives and the failure of prisons correctly. The connection between knowledge and power is found everywhere and at anytime. The search for individuality and meaning by the modern man The different ways in which power is presented Progression does not necessarily mean success, for example, the prison system The Change: People’s lives depend on the type of power and knowledge present. Materialism through science and technology, overtook the spiritual and meaningful side of a man’s life The centrality of life is no longer on man, but capitalism and progression. The Book of Change: Our lives are dominated by what surrounds us, such as the knowledge and power present. There is no one time more important than the other.
Objectives: – · To explore the impact of sound recording on the way we interact with music. In the past, people experienced music solely through live interaction: performances, concerts etc. Now music is widely available in recorded form, also through the mass media outlets of radio, television, the Internet. Does this devalue music, simply making it more disposable, or does it transform the potential role of music in a society where traditionally defined boundaries are shifting and collapsing in upon themselves? · To look at the effect of new methods of creating music, such as synthesis and sampling, both on the audience and on the creators of music. Through sampling, music is being made both by recycling and re-contextualising music that has come before, and by reclaiming sources previously dismissed as ‘noise’ to be placed in a musical context. Through sound synthesis, on the one hand acoustic instruments are being mimicked electronically with increasing authenticity. On the other, electronically generated sounds which radically diverge from our traditional sound palette seem increasingly commonplace in a world that is similarly transfigured. · To investigate the way these new techniques reflect the changes in our human/social condition- our relationship with technology, the mechanisation of society. To what extent do changes in musical creation and consumption come about as a result of these social changes, and to what extent do they actually inform the changes. Concepts: – · Mechanisation of society. Simulation and the hyperreal. The shifting role of art in a mass media culture. Territory: – · Western music and culture from the early 20th Century to the present. Sources: – · Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation. Roland Barthes, Image-Music-Text. Peter Manning, Electronic and Computer Music. Numerous recorded musical sources ranging from early forays into musical experimentation with sound recording, through to contemporary examples.
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.