Territory: My initial study took place in Saint Walburga’s Catholic Primary School, in Saltaire, West Yorkshire. I spent time within the school and particular classrooms collating information and observing the interactions between students and teachers. Aims: I aim to consider the relationships between students and teachers within the education system. I will look at the notion of dependency within this relationship and consider whether the teacher and/or student are dependent on the other. Also key to my study is the question of freedom in education and whether either student or teacher holds the most freedom. I will look to the paradox of teaching and learning and how this need not prevent teaching or learning, provided that both teacher and student willingly risk a power relationship of mastery and dependence. Philosophers and Sources: The majority of my study uses Hegel’s lord and bondsman dialectic, as found within in his Phenomenology of Spirit. However I wish to undertake an exploration of the master/slave relation beyond the Phenomenology of Spirit through the ideas of Educational Theorist Nigel Tubbs.
Category: Stage 2
Fight club a bizarre fantasy about the “repressed self”. The main character, (who throughout the film is not named and in the credits referred only to as narrator) a depressed business man, had a vision. He doesn’t like his work and gets no satisfaction from it so he tries different ways of passing time. He creates the perfect apartment but still he is not fulfilled. He has trouble sleeping and he feels in no way part of the surrounding world, he has become so desperate to fit in and to relate to others that he has started attending therapy sessions for people with terminal diseases and pretends that he is ill to just so he can have someone to talk to. One day on a plane he meets the man that he wishes he was the one who he has envisioned. He envisioned he was the street-wise hard man who loved to fight and who wasn’t afraid of anything and who was respected by all. And then the streetwise tough guy became real, at least he did in the mind of the business man. Hence the creation of Tyler. Tyler holds the materialistic world in contempt and he believes people learn everything they need to know through pain, misfortune and chaos. Tyler challenges the narrator to a fight and our narrator finds his much sought after release in the brawl. The two create a group named fight club and as more men join it one rule becomes apparent. ‘Do not talk about fight club.’ The philosophy I intend to explore is automatism and drifting. The whole thing with Freud where we all have subconscious desires and it is thought that if we continue to talk to non- stop after a while they come out and we actually say what we think deep down. Breton said we should do that with writing stuff down, just write anything and not think about it, free association, that’s automatism. And doing it when you’re walking around was what he called drifting. Also Sartre because he believed that men cannot rely on society to control them. Mankind is radically free and responsible. In every moment we choose ourselves, with no assurance that we have a continuing identity or power. We set up determinisms to ease our minds, but in the face of the finality of death, only through our present consciousness do we establish our own authentic existence.
The philosophical basis of this project will be focused predominantly on the works of Bataille and Sade including Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom and Bataille’s Eroticism. This project aims to investigate eroticism and taboo in terms of the sexually grotesque in order to explore the place of erotic transgression in past and present society. I will do this by elaborating on key themes such as death, sexual perversion and cruelty. Chuck Palahniuk’s Guts represents a modern comparison to Sade’s text, using Bataille’s reflections from Eroticism I will conclude by assessing the significance and purpose of taboos within our society today.
Aims: The main aim of this project is to explore the changes in the way in which religion has been viewed from the early 1800’s (from Nietzsche to Foucault) to the present day, and the way in which these ideas of Christianity have affected people’s perception of sexuality and the repercussions this has on society. Questions which need addressing: • Does religion affect your concept of understanding sexuality? • Are there boundaries as to what is acceptable when expressing sexuality? • Has the steady decline of Christianity among modern society affected our perceptions on sexual desires and sexuality in general? Key Sources: ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ – F. Nietzsche
I have chosen the subject for several reasons. Apart from being able to investigate the journey of the development of democratic ideas in Europe, I had a chance to review the history of my own country and therefore present its difficult and passionate strife for the things that the Western part of Europe has taken for granted for so long. The picture below represents the unity and devotion that were the main accelerators in achieving what are now 3 proud independent democratic countries. It is a picture of the events of 1989 August, when people of all 3 Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) gathered together and joined hands across the 3 nations ( 650 km, more than 400 miles) in order to demonstrate their opposition to Soviet rule. Somewhere in that live fence stood myself, a five year old, expressing my right to be free. Philosophical Concept: I investigate the ways freedom can be manifested in a society. My main sources are Mill’s “On Liberty” and Rousseau’s “Social Contract” that represent the discussion between collectiveness and individuality that is crucial in defining the principles of any form of government, especially democratic.
Territory: The works of Marc Chagall. Change: The progression of Chagall’s work from The Holy Family to The White Crucifixion. Philosophy: Mikhail Bakhtin’s Rabelais and His World, particularly the notion of the carnivalesque. The aim of this project will be to examine the way in which art (such as Rabelais’ writing and Chagall’s paintings) can undermine the status quo of a particular time even without an explicitly political message. I will explore the works of Chagall in terms what they represent, by means of a detailed analysis of five paintings, The Holy Family, I and the Village, The Birthday, Dedicated to My Fiancee and The White Crucifixion. I will look at them both stylistically and symbolically, and then apply them to Bakhtin’s philosophical framework. My main agenda will be to look at the duality and unity of things, as explored by both Bakhtin and Chagall as well as symbols of rebirth, renewal and immortality. I will do so by considering the parallels between what Bakhtin/Rabelais and Chagall were trying to achieve and their differing methods of doing so. My main sources will be: Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin, biographies of Chagall, and secondary literature.
How has art changed since the era of modernity (late 19th century to 1970s)? What evidence is there for these changes in the work of artists like Antony Gormley and Damien Hirst? What is it about contemporary art that makes it ‘postmodern’? Is the postmodern era really a complete break from modernity, or just another state of it? Modern art: broke away from traditional methods and began to experiment. No longer having to paint of draw objects exactly as they appear. More emotion through art. Postmodern art: celebrates and demonstrates chaos of modern life; even more inventive; anything goes; no distinction between higher and lower art; uses features from the past (eg Grayson Perry’s vases). De Duve: nowadays the important question in art is ‘What can be considered art?’. Baudrillard: fashion is what motivates change in art; we want things to be more shocking. Lyotard: importance of profit making when deciding the ‘value’ of a piece of art; idea of ‘the sublime’ coming back into importance in contemporary art. Postmodernity just another state of modernity? From modernity to postmodernity: materials used; methods of presentation; relationship between artist and viewer; media influence; ‘anything goes’; competitive element; purpose/message; historic narratives; concern with current events.
Objectives: The main objective for this project is to look at counselling. With the main focus upon University counselling services, particularly focusing on Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria University counselling services. Looking at what the need for counselling is and how the service functions. Concepts: looking at the advances in technology, and how these advancements may affect the masses. The focus is upon the change that has occurred in the formation of identity, with advertising being entwined into peoples lives, with television, internet etc. my intention is also to look at how things could work out, focusing on a children’s novel entitled Feed, which is set far into the future when technology is integral to life, and all people are fitted with a chip in their brains which enables them to connect to the internet at all times. I will be focusing on the implications of such a society, with such integral technology. Key Terms: • Subject/object distinction • Counselling • Reality as indefinable • Existentialist autonomy • Causality • Technological evolution • Social Positivism • Transcendence • Reality and Hyper reality
Objectives + My objective for this project is to look at the role that religion plays in our society and examine its positive and negative aspects. + I am going to concentrate on the effect that Christianity in particular has on the West, especially in politics. + I will look at religion with regards to social policy, including controversial issues such as: * Abortion *Contraception *American aid to developing countries ridden by HIV. + I am going to use as a basis for my enquiry the ideas of Bertrand Russell, arguably the 20th century’s greatest philosopher and a prominent social critic who is famous for his atheism and views on religion + I aim to critically examine his arguments in the light of other disciplines including sociology, psychology and anthropology to see if his ideas are reinforced by other leading thinkers. + I am then going to apply his ideas to the contemporary world to examine if they are still valid 50 or so years on and to finally conclude whether I believe religion in the form it takes today is overall a positive or negative social force.
Territory. I firstly looked into the fashion industry and how the use of fake fur was apparent within this industry. However, this lead me on to the enquiry of animal rights within today’s society and how this view has progressed or changed throughout time. Therefore my search extended to the implications of animal rights and how these rights are philosophically perceived through time, up until the present day. Aim My aim for this project is to understand how we, through time, have got to the age where real fur is being used within the fashion industry and how this choice has been affected by past philosophical thinkers and their influence on society. I will be looking at the relationship between humans and animals. I aim to introduce ethical thoughts and philosophical ideas and implement these into a comprehensible understanding of the change in attitude towards animal rights. Philosophers and sources. I am going to use Peter Singers All animals are equal, Mills’ Utilitarianism and Animal rights and Human Obligation by Tom Regan and Peter Singer. These will be my main texts. I will also use History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.
For my project I chose the coastal area incorporating North Shields, Tynemouth , Whitley Bay and Wallsend. In each area I analysed the changes in society and industry that occurred since the industrial revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century. In my investigation many recurring narratives arose such as the effects of the industrial revolution and its decline and the rise of “Drinking Culture”. Both highlighted the evolution of the technology and the postmodern change in personal relationships and social structures. The coastal region has undergone major changes throughout history. During the 19th and early 20th century the industrial revolution heralded a boom period in the North East. Its mines and yards produced the ships and coal that powered the British empire. However the fall of the British empire ended the North East’s industrial prosperity. In my project I will look at how this has affected the people of the North East focusing on the work of Marx and Hegel who introduced the notion of evolution into history. I will also use more contemporary writers such as David Harvey to fully comprehend the changes that have occurred, such as the fragmentation of our culture and the class system within society. I will also be looking at the effects of modernity and postmodernity on the architectural makeup of the coast line.
Territory: Having watched the short surrealist film ‘Un Chien Andalou’ (1929) I began to consider how the explicit violence demonstrated in slicing a woman’s eye had affected its audience. How would the censors react to such a film today? With this in mind I began to watch a series of controversial violent films, which had been produced from the late 1970’s to present day that had caused the British Board of Film Classification to take swift censorship action. My territory therefore is the change in censorship of violent films between the years 1975 and 2006.
Aims and Objectives: In this project I will aim to show that the many incarnations of censorship over the years are entirely contradictory and do not achieve the aims the B.B.F.C. intends of them. In addition to this I aim to demonstrate that the notion of violence has been severely misunderstood and discredited through ignorant dogma and that it is in fact a necessary and active part of human consciousness. Having watched a short catalogue of films, such as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1976) the Evil Dead (1981) and Fight Club (1999), I looked at how they had been viewed by the B.B.F.C. and what actions had been taken. From here I looked at how things such as the invention of the video cassette recorder and the internet had created an impact on the censorship of films.
Philosophical Ideas. The main philosophical concepts that were drawn upon come from Georges Bataille, while thinkers Bandura conducted experiments to see how television violence affected children’s behaviour. Bataille argues that eroticism, violence and transgression will ultimately defeat the taboos of society and that they are the key to changing bourgeois attitudes. This will be held in contrast to Moralist thinkers such as Mary Whitehouse and Margaret Thatcher!
Overview. A basic study of the relationship between film censorship and violence. How censorship justifies its position through psychological, sociological and philosophical means. How film censorship cannot achieve its aims. How violence is an important part of the human consciousness. By utilising violence we can transgress bourgeois attitudes as indicated by Bataille, thus removing unwarranted taboo and dogma in society.
Introduction. The 20th century has arguably brought about the evolution, or rather devolution into, commodity and the spectacle. Life has become an experience not in itself, but through proxy. ‘Dead the sublime, evermore the ephemeral’ is an investigation into why the ephemeral seems more relevant than the sublime, and how a modern society reacts to such a notion. I will conduct this investigation with regards to travel, why people take on such an activity and how it has possibly changed the way we think. Instilled in travel is the quest for change, experience and rebellion, hence inherent in the concept of travel are other movements searching for the same ends. Punk is one of these movements, which I shall encounter in this project. Aims. In this project I aim to evoke the change in Avant-garde movements over the latter half of the 20th century. Focusing on the work of Ballard and Debord I will suggest why such Avant-garde movements arose and what they stood for, hence ultimately what they aimed to achieve through the movement. I will approach travel as a possible Avant-garde movement itself, in the dying age of rebellion, I will convey the issues travel raises when considered as a movement itself. I will ask questions such as will travel, like punk and other radical movements, be a movement itself; will it achieve its aims and will it ultimately become what it stands to reject? Concepts. I will be focusing on two philosophical thinkers, Guy Debord and J.G Ballard. They will provide my argument from three similar, yet different and individual perspectives. The concepts these thinkers evoke are the “Society of the Spectacle”, and the ‘Death of Affect’. I will investigate their ideas and explore whether they evoke meaning in relation to why we travel, the effect it has on us and other people.
My territory: Domestic Violence. My Methods And Sources: Women’s Aid, The Women’s Shelter, Political Bills and Laws, Interviews, Questionnaires, Books, Magazines, Pamphlets. The Ideas: Husserl and Hegel’s influence on Sartre’s construction on his theories of love and viewing the other as an attractive object. The battle to one’s freedom from being viewed as an object. Krishnamurti’s idea of the importance of becoming a free individual to transcend an essentially violent society. My Philosophers: The Existentialists, Husserl, Sartre, Krishnamurti.
I will be using the St. James’ Park football stadium in Newcastle as the territory for my project. What is postmodernism? – Crucial to my work on St. James’ Park will be an understanding of the postmodern condition and its relation to modernity. In my project I will look mainly at the work of David Harvey and Jean-Francois Lyotard on the subject of postmodernism. Is St. James’ Park postmodern? – St. James’ Park is a mix of old and new in design and construction. It stands towering over the city of Newcastle as a symbol of local identity. It is also home to numerous shops and corporate ventures catering for many tastes. I will examine to what extent the stadium could be considered a postmodern building, examining the idea of postmodern architecture. How has the rise in techno-science and increased capitalist penetration affected St. James’ Park? – Identified by Lyotard as key features of postmodernity, techno-science and capitalism are driven by the quest for development through efficiency. I will investigate what effect this has on St. James’ Park as a stadium and as a stage for football in a postmodern age. Key Sources: The Condition of Postmodernity by David Harvey; The Postmodern Condition by Jean-Francois Lyotard; The Inhuman by Jean-Francois Lyotard
It is only a recent occurrence that people have realised the importance of the environment and the damage we are doing to it. This has caused a wider response to nature conservation than ever before, with more people getting involved and more things being done to protect the environment and the natural world. Attitudes have changed. How then, do these attitudes differ to previous philosophical attitudes of Western philosophy? My project starts with an introduction as to why I chose the natural world and nature conservation, it being a great interest and love for me. It continues with a look at the history of philosophical attitudes towards the natural world such as Newton believing man was very much an observer and other common beliefs that man was separate to nature. This will show to what extent these philosophies provided an attitude towards nature which was one of almost indifference as far as conservation was concerned. Finally my project moves to the contemporary where it will explore the work of Edward O. Wilson, The Future of Life to see how far attitudes have changed. For support with this discussion my project includes the thoughts and views of other contemporary philosophers such as Holmes Rolston III and current environmental issues from sources such as the news.
An investigation into the nature and extent of capitalist domination today. Capitalism is the most powerful force that exists in civilised society today. Its networks of power are dispersed everywhere and it defines most arenas of our existence yet nowhere are its processes easy to define or hold accountable and capitalism has much to be held accountable for. Chapter 1 I will use Marx’s theory of capitalism as a base from which to better understand our contemporary capitalist condition. Chapter 2 I will use the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari to try and explain the schizophrenic processes of capitalism that control everything from who we think we are and how we think about right and wrong, to which countries we go to war with and how we justify our actions. Chapter 3 I will use the distinctly Deleuzian concept of Empire that is developed by Hardt and Negri to describe the force of global capitalist expansion now that sovereignty has passed from individual bourgeois states to the machine of capitalism with America at its helm. Chapter 4 will take a look at the theory of Empire in action with the philosophy of illusion of Jean Baudrillard. He uses the Gulf war as an example of how our perception of reality is altered to the point that moral and political thought are short-circuited. Sources: Deleuze and Guattari’s ‘Capitalism and Schizophrenia’, Hardt and Negri’s ‘Empire’ and Jean Baudrillard’s ‘the gulf war did not take place’
The project will examine the problems that confronted the Situationist International from 1957 to 1968 and show how those same problems are addressed almost half a century later in the film, Fight OutlineClub. Aim: To argue that that the problems faced by the SI are still evident today and that the events presented in Fight Club are symptomatic of this. Method: The following aspects of both Situationist thought and the themes discussed in Fight Club will be used to support my argument: – Commodification and Consumerism: Both Guy Debord and Tyler Durden felt society had become ‘over-reliant’ on material possessions. – The Society of the Spectacle: The product of this over-reliance. Debord’s term for the vicarious nature of modern life. – Detournement: The process of defacing or editing already existing pieces of art, film, music, literature or architecture. Tyler’s assignments in Fight Club are deeply rooted in this idea. – The LA Riots, the Strasbourg Scandal, May 1968 and ‘Project Mayhem’: These events marked the culmination of both SI thought and Tyler’s desires in Fight Club. – Situationist Film and Fight Club Itself: Both looked to push the boundaries and confront traditional cinematic norms. – Terrorism: Could the Situationists be viewed as terrorists? The members of ‘Project Mayhem’ certainly could. Is terrorism in fact necessary for change? – Generation X: The events of May ’68 marked a culmination of social unrest, but as “the middle children of history” does our generation have anything left for which to fight? Sources include: ‘Fight Club’- David Fincher, ‘The Society of the Spectacle’- Guy Debord, ‘Guy Debord and the Situationist International’- Tom McDonough, and ‘The Culture Industry- Theodor Adorno. Information from the Internet, magazines and newspapers will also be used to illustrate my project.
AIM – To examine the changes in English football in recent decades, which have led to increasing levels of commodification. I intend to discover the reasons increased commodification has occurred, at the impact of increased commodification on both big clubs and small clubs and I intend to see how genuine football supporters have been affected. TERRITORY – My territory is the English Football League – I will look at how several English league clubs have been affected by the changes, focusing on two clubs who have been affected very differently, Burnley F.C. and Chelsea F.C. CHANGE – English Football’s Rapid transformation from being a sport to being a profit-making business, which began in the 1960s, accelerated in the 80s and still continues today. SOURCES – I focused mainly on the theories of the Situationist International, in particular Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle. I also looked at Karl Marx’s Capital. and other texts from the Situationists and Marx. I also used several texts that examined changes in English football, in particular Anthony King’s The End of The Terraces, which charts the transformation in English football in the last two decades in favour of big city clubs.
Territory: Africa has always been a focal point when discussing Third World Poverty as this vast continent contains the 24 lowest ranking nations out of the world’s 175 poorest countries. In the Western World we are frequently reminded of the poverty and suffering taking place in Africa through images in the media and events such as ‘Make Poverty History’, ‘Live 8’, and the most recent G8 summit which took place in the UK in 2005. In my project I will be exploring Africa and how it has changed over the past one hundred and fifty years; from pre-colonial times to the ‘Scramble for Africa’, through its struggle to regain independence and up to the current time. In considering how Africa has changed, or has been changed, over the last two centuries, it will also be necessary to give an account of the factors acting upon it such as Europeans as the main founders of the African colonies and the British and American governments in their political policies towards African poverty. Aims: I will look at Africa in a historical and political context and it’s relationships with Europe and America in order to determine whether or not we, in the Western World, can be held responsible for the extensive poverty in our world’s second largest continent. In addition to this, I will be assessing to what extent people actually care about those suffering in the Third World or if their way of life is so removed from our own that we view the situation as more fiction than fact. Finally, I will try to establish if the Western World has a social and moral obligation to try and ameliorate the situation and by what means. Concepts and Philosophy: In order to answer the questions set out in my aims, I will be paying particular reference to Peter Singer’s Practical Ethics and John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice. This will be in conjunction with the exploration of concepts such as; responsibility (individualistic and communitarian), moral obligation, justice and equality.