During the course of this project my main objectives are to explore the purpose of war throughout history, to assess what can make war morally justifiable, man’s natural tendencies towards violence and to explore the place of war within modern society with policing factions such as NATO and nuclear deterrents. The main question asked within this essay is: with man’s natural disposition for violence, can the pen EVER be mightier than the sword?
Category: Stage 2
My territory is addiction; I chose addiction as it is a contemporary issue of concern today! I have examined most areas of addiction, such as; Drug/ alcohol abuse, gambling, sex and eating disorders. Essentially it is not about what addiction one has; rather why one is addicted in the first place. Thus, I have explored contemporary answers. The two concepts of Philosophy I have chosen are that of Mill and Bataille.
Bataille is related to my topic of addiction because he blames Society!!! Due to the Rise of Capitalism All time is spent on useful means leaving no time for useless expenditure…addiction is a way of escaping this monotonous regimented lifestyle!!!
The methodology: The method I have used throughout my project is the hermeneutic interpretive, as I attained all my information from books and the internet.
Mill is associated with my territory because his philosophy is based on Hedonism: Addiction is based on pleasure and addicts do it to release pain. This is also following Mill’s principle of Utilitarianism. Also, I have explored Mill’s work on education; his basic doctrine related to addiction would be that a good education from a young age would prevent behaviours like addiction occurring. He distinguishes higher and lower pleasures, higher pleasures being things such as; theatre and literature. Thus an alternative for addiction, for Mill, could be through art.
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
Who can possibly be responsible for the two extreme eating disorders? The state, family, media and culture all have their parts to play. How do we know what is best for us?… If the state, family and individual all disagree? Parentalism – should an individual with an eating disorder be considered not fully rational and is this justification for some of that person’s right to freedom to be taken away, on the grounds that they would be ‘better off’. Hegel asserts that the individual’s highest freedom consists in membership in the state. BUT: Does society protect us?
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.
It is estimated that there are 150 million active Facebook users worldwide. • Once a website aimed solely at students at Harvard University as a means of keeping in contact with classmates, Facebook has grown exponentially since its inception in February 2004. • Recently it has excelled in the 35‐54 year age demographic with a reported 279% increase in users in this age bracket. The worry is that, in domino effect of sorts through the generations, it will soon be a reality that everyone who has regular access to a computer will be communicating through a website and human contact and interaction will be a seldom practiced pastime. With the arrival of the mobile telephone came a whirlwind of irreversible change. Advancements in Telecommunications opened the gateway to a so‐called ‘Thumb culture’ in which communication and media interaction are all dictated by some form of digital interface. It seems as though, with each technological step forward, we take an interpersonal step back. For example, first there were phone conversations to close friends and family, then came text messaging, a far less personal way of communicating but, nonetheless it was a progression, or perhaps digression, that was mutually embraced by contacts that once knew each other well enough to interact verbally. From this stemmed the birth of instant messaging as a cheaper but very similar alternative. The concept of social networking through sites such as Myspace and Facebook is a commendable one. They aim to maintain correspondence with people that would have otherwise slipped off one’s communication radar. But the reality is that our strong relationships become diluted by becoming ‘Facebook friends’ with people we would call mere acquaintances. With the addition of Facebook chat in April 2008, Facebook became a ‘one‐stop shop’ for all our communication needs. Engaging in duologues on Facebook meant that their monopolisation have become so conglomerate that face‐to‐face conversations end up actively referring to Facebook. With a limitless online friend capacity, people with thousands of friends either have to spread themselves very thinly across all these people, or spend hours and hours chained to a computer to maintain a valid friendship. In order to explore this territory, I will be looking at the work of J.G. Ballard and Guy Debord as well as looking into Communication Theory. My aim for this project is to investigate where we go from here. Will face to face, or even verbal communication exist in the future? Or will technology sever our personal relationships to such an extent that meeting with people will be simply a distant memory; something the future generations will dismiss as ’something their grandparents did’?
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.
Japan today is a nation synonymous with contemporary culture and ambitious technology that tries to transform the way in which we live. However, it is hard to imagine that just over a century ago; Japan was in the midst of a massive change which saw it go from a country of feudal military foundations to an industrious world power which would contribute to world history in a substantial way. This project aims to look at the History of Japan over the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s and see how this event was the catalyst which caused a nation to turn its back on 800 years of uniform history and become a contending power on the world stage. The cultural principles of Japan at this time shall lead me to look at the post war writer Yukio Mishima, whose ideas on the culture of Japan after World War II provoked him to write some of the most defining Japanese literature of the 20th Century. Ultimately, his views in this area led to his highly publicised ritual suicide in 1970 prior to which he tried to start a coup against the new media based, industrial Japan. To link this project philosophically, I shall be referring the ideas of Mishima to those of Georges Bataille, who Mishima himself had a fascination with. Bataille’s theories brought forward notions related to sacrifice within a culture. This includes specifically the concept of Potlatch, wherein Native American tribal chiefs would appease opposing leaders by destroying resources and objects of value. With this in mind, I shall show how the Japanese transformation was a Potlatch on a grand scale, and how Mishima was a microcosm of this in the 20th Century. The conclusion of this project will come to the point where justification of Japan’s change will be shown.
Whether or not the realm of freedom apparent in the plurality of styles used by contemporary artists is actually a way of concealing its true function, as a slave to business? In contemporary art’s exploration of the human psyche, it appears to hold out no consolation; conventional styles are broken and indiscretions of morals all define the basic contemporary art world orthodoxy. However although contemporary art has reinvented itself this also means that art’s existence now comes in relation to world politics, commerce, consumerism and the worlds of business and finance. In this project I will discuss how art has changed and been shaped by the demands that these external pressure points have put upon it, and what that means for the way we ‘read’ art and treat artists in contemporary culture. I will centre my argument on how the mass consumer culture of our society has lead to the commodification of art. I will focus on the artists Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst, and how both artists have embraced commercial success and celebrity status, buying into the values that art originally transcends, suggesting that they themselves have become a brand name out of which their art is made. The key philosopher that I will be using is Karl Marx and his theory of capitalism. He believed that the continual modernization in industry means that old structures, traditions and attachments begin to dissolve, so that in his famous phrase “all that is solid melts into air.” This can be applied to art’s status which is conventionally and ideally aligned with truth, beauty and ethics but with capitalisms involvement there is a shift from ethics to aesthetics. Contemporary art has become about creating pieces that are morally ambiguous, that promote corporations and entertain the mass culture. I will also be using Guy Debord and his Society of the Spectacle to elaborate on Marx’s theory and explain how he felt art had become commodified and the consequences of this, such as alienation and the loss of art’s function.
Aims
In my project I will discuss how the relationship between friends affects our ability to make objective moral decisions. In doing so I hope to clarify some of the philosophical positions on friendship and assess my own views philosophically in order to attain whether moral theories should devote specific attention to this idea.
Object
The object for my project is the documentary film “Touching the Void”. This film tells the story of two friends who set out to climb the previously un-summited west face of “Siula Grande” in the Peruvian mountains. In doing so both friends were plunged into a life and death struggle and one was forced to make an arduous decision to end his friend’s life.
Territory
The philosophers I will use in my project are;
• Aristotle, who writes explicitly on the conditions of complete friendship in his book
“Nicomachean Ethics”
• Hegel, most importantly his concept of recognition and how that is affected by
friendship and how this in turn affects his moral theory
• Hobbes, the idea of rational egoism and how friendship is affected by this
Territory
The War in Afghanistan; which began on October 7, 2001 as the U.S. military operation, ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’, was launched by the United States with the United Kingdom, and Natoled, UN authorized ISAF in response to the September 11 attacks. This conflict will form the basis of my project. I will discuss the various ethical issues which have arisen from it and attempt to clarify the different arguments for and against such a war.
Object
There are many issues surrounding this conflict, for example the justification of the war itself, Increasing civilian casualties, lack of support for troops, both from the public and in terms of equipment. The detrimental effect on the population, especially farmers and industrial workers. The lack of sufficient troop numbers. The requirements of the Afghan population. There are many philosophical proponents of these theories and I intend to apply the theories of a number of philosophers to the problems we see in this conflict; Plato, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Locke & Rousseau, are some of the philosophers I will use to discuss the moral issues which result from these problems, from the just war arguments to the opposing teleological and deontological notions of war. Change I am particularly interested in the attitude of the UK towards this conflict, I will investigate the extent to which our attitude to war has changed, from the first and second world wars to the present day conflict in Afghanistan, with reference to the Falkland’s conflict and the Northern Ireland troubles. I wish to understand how these conflicts have affected the way the UK views war. To what extent has our perception of it changed over the past one hundred years? And what can we learn from these past conflicts? This shall be the ultimate goal of my project.
Objective: In this essay I intend to look at how alienation and disaffection may be a catalyst for art, in particular with popular music, as a form of social commentary and self-expression, and what effect if any this art may produce within society. I will do so through studying Marx’s theory on alienation by looking at how if one becomes alienated in society they may use music as an alternative form of subjective labour. Then I will assess the role and worth of popular music in relation to the individual creating it and in turn how this may be used by other people in society and what they can gain from it. Concept: Popular music as a form of social commentary and self-expression. Thinkers: 1. Marx’s theory of alienation: ‘Anxiety about one’s social role, its basis, and its value is especially likely for creative artists who have “betaken themselves to their work as an isolated means of ‘self-expression’ without clear social function.’ (Elridge, 2003) I will explore how, whilst deprived a means of objectifying and fulfilling one’s human nature capitalist labour, creation of music may be an alternative form of productive labour. 2. Adorno’s critique of popular music ‘Its planned idiocy virtually tests what mankind will put up with, what threadbare, noncommittal intellectual contents can be imposed upon it.’ (Adorno, 1989.p52) Next, I will critically assess Adorno’s damning critique of popular music, aiming to interact with his theory to illustrate how, rather than being a meaningless practice, an audience may connect and be of benefit from it. Key Sources: Marx— Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Adorno— Introduction to the Sociology of Music, Popular music, Popular culture, Society.
Territory: In the autumn of 1978 in a rural area of Guyana, South America, a tragic event occurred, making headlines and remaining in the minds of many for years to come. A religious leader known as Rev. Jim Jones orchestrated a mass ‘suicide’ of over 900 people in a remote area known as Jonestown. Aims: To uncover the truth behind such an unusual event and really focus my attention upon the character of Jim Jones to see what led him to such an unfortunate end. I shall aim to do this by looking at the works of George Bataille. I intend to unmask not only the character of Jim Jones’ character and his followers, but also that of Bataille. I shall focus on Bataille’s own thought to see how it sheds light on the Jonestown massacre. Concepts: Bataille’s notion of homogeneity versus heterogeneity. Bataille’s views on religion in relation to Jim Jones’. Bataille’s on fascism versus Jones’ on socialism Georges Bataille versus Jim Jones. Research: Bataille: Visions of Excess, Gemerchak, The Sunday of the Negative, Tim Reiterman, Raven-The untold story of the People’s Temple.
Since Sotheby’s auction house opened in 1744, the art market has grown and now sells pieces for millions of dollars every day. My project explores the societal and technological changes which have occurred throughout modernity to understand why paintings like The Scream were bought for over $119 million.
Commodity fetishism and the global art market
Using Marx’s exploration of capitalism I focused on what constitutes a commodity and how art has been fetishized. I then incorporated Vattimo’s use of telematics and globalised media to demonstrate capitalisms more recent developments; this enabled me to discuss the role paintings have played in a global billion dollar market. In contrast I also looked back to 15th century artists, to understand if art has become a commodity only with the advent of capitalism and technology.
Mechanical technology and mass production
I used Benjamin’s philosophy of mechanical reproducibility to highlight the importance of technological advancement, especially that of mass reproduction, in selling the image of a work enabling fame and exposure to a wider market.
I also looked to how these factors of the current market affected the minds and work of artists themselves using the philosophy of Andy Warhol, and the artwork of Damien Hurst, Warhol himself, and Julian Opie. All of these artists demonstrated the drive of a capitalist mind-set, have benefited from global exposure, and produce pieces using technology invented in a postmodern age such as laser printing and spinning. My goal was to ultimately demonstrate that the market has changed both the nature of the art which is produced and opened the art world up to everyone on a global scale.
Internally replicable model of the art market
Mass reproduction of famous classical/modern works (such as The Scream and No.1)
Original work becomes more valuable as its image and fame is spread over a global market (both sold for millions)
The traditional application of philosophy is intrinsically tied to a set of values, methods and self definitions which excluded women. Because philosophical works attributed to women have been devalued and therefore not included in recognized works, the traditional history of philosophy is a history of men’s ideas. Womanless history, however, is a distortion of the past which serves to justify the status quo, women philosophers are challenging mainstream philosophy to cease evaluating itself according to the standards set by men.
The aim of my investigation is to determine whether Feminism would ever have been necessary if the philosophical works of women were given any credit. I intend to look into the social theories of Rousseau, Locke and Hume. These thinkers preached the idea of equality, yet is there any correlation in the fact when writing of the collective they term it ‘man’? I intend to study the role of women and how if any Feminism has altered this view.
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.
For George Bataille, human beings have a natural desire to both create and destroy. This dualism can be considered a balance of time spent productively and time wasted. Modern Capitalist culture gives less room than ever for destruction and time‐wasting. As a result of this, the modern human being finds strange new ways to accommodate his desire to transgress the social dogma of spending time usefully. Could binge drinking and drug abuse be examples of such transgression? The Newcastle undergraduate, newly expected to manage his time effectively, is a fascinating example to study under the Bataillean spotlight. My Stage 2 Project shall take the concepts of radical French thinker George Bataille, and assess to what extent his theory can account for alcohol and drug abuse within Newcastle University students. This aspect of student behaviour will be examined under the Bataillean spotlight of transgression and taboos.
In this project I hope to discuss the problem of evil – namely how God can exist as evil does. By examining the Holocaust in regards to this I hope to be able to shed some new light on this infamous example of evil and suffering beyond comprehension. Did the German people knowingly allow the Holocaust to happen and if so what were the reasons behind this? By reading Rudolf Hoess’ autobiography I hope to be able to discover whether following orders removes all moral responsibility. Ultimately, could it happen again?
Territory: Escapism, our obsession, need for it. What I will use to do this: My mind, Psychology, Fromm, Sociology. We are the only species on this planet that routinely, and necessarily require some form of detachment from our existence. I want to explore this need of ours to escape from the perspective of the protagonist Craig Schwartz in the film ‘Being John Malkovich’. As well as using an individual’s perspective I hope to look at society as a whole, the way it is driven by a mainstream commercialist economy and how this affects our need to subvert our reality from time to time.
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?