Category: Stage 3

Song is Existence

The first part of my project was to prove that accepting a scientific and medical approach to mental illness was wrong. I used Jean-Paul Sartre’s account of bad faith, in which the human being freely gives up their freedom. I then applied this behaviour to the person who accepts the scientific explanation for the dark thoughts and emotions we experience when suffering from illnesses such as depression and anxiety.

In the second part, I introduced Heidegger’s lecture on the origin of the work of art, and how poetry uncovers truths about the world through its use of
language. Music is also a form of poetry so in contemporary times I believe that accepting the truths presented to us about mental illness by musicians is acting in good faith. I supported this argument with the examples of Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and Kendrick Lamar. Additionally I analysed a select few examples of medical accounts of mental illness in order to prove that they were an insufficient approach to mental health.

Tags health, Heidegger, music

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Does Technology Merely Distort or Substantially Change Law and Justice?

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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Does Technology Merely Distort or Substantially Change Law and Justice?

The Media:

Common-held belief was that – because of Simpson’s celebrity- he would not be prosecuted.
Despite the incriminating evidence against him, the public supported Simpson. As noted by Bugliosi, there were “people carrying sings outside the courtroom during the trial declaring “Free OJ” and “Save the Juice”

The Pharmaceutical Industry

Euthanasia:
Technological advancements have made it considerably more comfortable for us to watch someone “slip away”

The Death Penalty:
At this present- day, advancements in the pharmaceutical industry ensure that ‘the shelf life of benzodiazepine’ also plays a role in this process.

Tags health, law, technology

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Artistic Appropriation: Do you Own what you Create?

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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Plagiarism is wrong. Says who? Why should we obey this? Does Plagiarism stifle creativity? Is plagiarism a force of coercion and obedience?

Tags art, obedience, plagiarism

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

The Right to Privacy: A philosophical investigation in to the notion of a right to privacy in contemporary society; looking at the ways in which this right is upheld/struck down

“To be left alone is the most precious thing one can ask of the modern world”
–
Anthony Burgess

We live in a society today in which privacy concerns seem to be cropping up more and more frequently. This essay basis its’ notion of a right to privacy on Warren and Brandeis’s article for the Harvard Law Review titled The Right to Privacy, and investigates the ways in which the culture today strikes down this right.

My essay focuses on the primary ways in which the notion of privacy has been struck down in the post 9/11 society that we live in. In doing this, I was able to use the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and John Rawls, among many other philosophers, to formulate a response to this abolition of privacy in the society we live in. Their philosophies provide us with a thoughtful response to the factors affecting our right to privacy, and henceforth allows for a thorough investigation into the notion of privacy from a perspective not entirely common.

‘Perhaps the most striking thing about the right to privacy is that nobody seems to have any very clear idea what it is.’
– Judith Jarvis Thomson

Tags Heidegger, privacy, Rawls

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Would it be Better if Human Beings did not Exist?

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist?” Schopenhauer

“Being brought into existence is not a benefit but always a harm” Benatar

“Our self-removal from this planet would still be a magnificent move… What do we have to lose?” Ligotti

This project will investigate the claim that human existence is a value.

There tends to be a given assumption that human existence is a good thing. I intend to question the validity of this and investigate whether it has valid justification.

The effects of human existence will be considered from three perspectives to determine whether human existence is worth its costs.

An ethical perspective will be used to evaluate the suffering and harm evoked by and for human beings.

An environmental perspective will contemplate the impact human beings have had on the planet and the detrimental effects caused.

A positive perspective will be adopted to investigate whether human beings deserve respect. It will be questioned if something would be lost without us.

Tags environmental, ethics, humanity

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

On Bunnies: An Interpretative Approach to Playboy in the Sphere of Art

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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PLAYBOY
The use of nude photography does not exclude a work from the sphere of art

Kaliai Cargo Cults: Understanding Death and Western Influences in Papua New Guinea.

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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“O Father Consel, you are sorry for us. You can help us. We have nothing – no aircraft, no ships, no jeeps, nothing at all. The Europeans steal it from us. You will be sorry for us and send us something” – cargo cult prayer.

Jarvie, I.C. (1964). The Revolution in Anthropology. New York, Routledge. (p64)

Tags death, imperialism

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

The Case for Drag: Exploring drag performance and culture through the work of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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Given the rapid rise of drag performance in pop culture, it is now one of the most popular and varied forms of entertainment. But isn’t seeing drag performance and culture as nothing more than a source of amusement, to obfuscate swathes of its political, emotional and metaphysical potential? How might we do drag justice? How might we unlock this potential? The answer lies in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, an engagement with whom, will help us see the potential drag offers.Early Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy helps us understand drag’s potential in revealing a harsh reality, and in making it possible to bear by transfiguring suffering into beauty. Middle-period Nietzsche: Nietzsche sews the seeds for the ideas which develop in his mature work. Mature Nietzsche: Nietzsche’s critique of the Kantian subject helps us understand how drag pulls us towards a less anxious, less restricted and more emancipated subjectivity. Thus Nietzsche helps us appreciate drag as more than a piece of entertainment, as offering us a more tolerable and healthier way of being in the world.

Tags culture, gender, Nietsche

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

BDSM, Power and Self-mastery: the strength of submission

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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Does power equate to dominance? Is there a strength in submission?

Tags sexuality

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Everything Now, as Result of Creativity or Commercialism; Reading Arcade Fire with Adorno’s The Culture Industry.

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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Money + Love
Can artists make a statement about consumer culture without falling into it themselves?

Territory: Arcade Fire’s album Everything Now

Object: Consumer Culture
Philosophy: Adorno’s The Culture Industry

Tags Adorno, consumerism, music

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Should student happiness be made a part of university rankings? If so, which type of happiness should be used and how should it be measured?

Should student happiness be made a part of university rankings? If so, which type of happiness should be used and how should it be measured?
What indicators are normally used in university rankings?
Entry Standards Industry Income
Graduate Prospects Number of Students
Student Satisfaction Teaching Quality

As we can see happiness does not feature as an indicator however it is becoming a bigger part of society and because of this I, and many other students, believe that it should become an indicator for university rankings.

The best way to measure happiness would be through questionnaires given to students at the end of the year.

So what type of happiness should be used?

Eudaimonia
Hedonic
Jouissance

Tags education, evaluation, happiness

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Back to class: An investigation into the English canon through a Marxian critique of tradition and value in the education system of England

Concept: Hegemony, dialogue, critical thinking

Object: The work of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire

The aim of this investigation is to argue that there exists a hegemony within education, specifically English literature. This hegemony prevents the reading of texts such as An Inspector Calls in a critical, working class dialogue.

To argue this, this investigation will examine; what is hegemony? How does it function? Where is it in education? And how can we stop it?

This investigation will argue that for a critical education system, we must adopt the work of Paulo Freire and begin the process of genuine dialogue with students when undertaking a reading.

Tags education, hegemony, Marx

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Neoliberal Distress: The Effect of Contemporary Capitalism on the Mental State of Young People

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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My project aims:
Outlining neoliberal hegemony, why it has become so universally pervasive.
To uncover the manner in which neoliberalism increases levels of distress for young people through statistical evidence.
To look at the systemic shortcomings in treating mental illness and how this leads young people into self-medication and escapism.
To look at potential solutions to countering neoliberalism, highlighting precisely why the left has failed in doing so.
Concluding by revealing neoliberalism as pseudo-universal.

Tags capitalism, health, neoliberalism

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Can we resolve the conflict between Art and Science

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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My object is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and my territory is the relationship between art and science. In my project I argue that the arts (and humanities) come into conflict with science (and technology). Richard Dawkins laments that in his view science does not get the same respect as poetry. Meanwhile Midgley claims that science attempts to colonise humanities with inappropriate methods. Habermas claims that science has ‘infected’ politics, ethics and philosophy. Warbuton argues that the concepts used to evaluate scientific research are applied to the arts as well, but are not fit for this purpose.
Lyotard looks at one of the causes of this conflict. Narrative has been the main way of transmitting knowledge, and is still used in the arts. However, science condemns narrative as no knowledge at all, since narratives are only legitimated by their general acceptance. Science, on the other hand, requires legitimation by empirical evidence, and must be able to justify and defend its claims against challenges. However, science can only justify and defend its claims by using narrative, so could itself be accused of begging the question by using a form it has condemned as not susceptible to legitimation.

Heidegger argues that technology, by treating human beings as a reserve, poses a danger to our very essence. Pirsig proposes care as part of the solution. Heidegger sees care as constitutive of humans, inextricably linked with human life and temporality. Pirsig’s version of care is what provides the creativity and imagination which he demonstrates is needed by science to come up with new theories and hypotheses just as much as it is needed by the arts. If this is accepted then care, creativity and imagination could provide the basis for a bridge between the sciences and the arts.

Tags art, ethics, science

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

A Defence of Disco: exploring the power and value of disco with reference to Adorno’s theories of music and the Culture Industry

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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The values of disco are often seen to tie neatly into consumerist culture and represent a false, materialistic and escapist attitude to life. In this project, I seek to provide a defence for a genre that had significant power and value for marginalised communities.

I will be referencing texts that discuss popular music and popular culture, focusing on Theodor Adorno, Richard Middleton and Simon Reynolds predominantly, in order to assess how a musical movement can be valued, what disco music can tell us about ourselves, and whether disco music should be taken seriously as a musical genre.

Tags Adorno, Middleton, music

2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Sexuality in the modern era is a social construct

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2017
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Michael Foucault
– The repressive hypothesis
– Changes in sexual practices over time
– Mode of power within society

Theodore Adorno
– Enlightenment
– Culture Industry
-Standardisation of sexual categories

Do sexual categories define individuals?
Has sexuality always existed?
How does sexuality function within society?

Tags Adorno, Foucault, sexuality

2015 Abstracts Stage 3

The nature of the decentralised operating system within Bitcoin and its relation to the configurations of society

Post author By Glen
Post date 12 January 2015
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Providing an in-depth study into the operations taking place within Bitcoin and outlining the current and possible future effects it could have in changing the way in which the monetary system works. This project will involve the Philosophical implications it could have on changing the way in which society as a whole is understood to operate.

Tags cryptocurrency, culture, finance

2015 Abstracts Stage 3

Is the paradox between an authored narrative and player choice responsible for the illusion of internal justification in video games? A look into narrative and player agency, given the circumstances of the relationship between ‘winnable’ video games and the identity we attribute to ourselves as players – with reference to Dennaton Games’ Hotline Miami.

I aim to explore the concept of how we act morally in videogames and what motivates us to do so. I chose to use this game, Hotline Miami, a top-down, two-dimensional pastiche of ultra-violence, stealth and surreal story-telling, played from a canvas of 80s synth subculture particularly notable in the soundtrack and visuals. It is a neo-noir crime drama blearily glimpsed through a psychedelic haze, which follows the nameless protagonist the player controls. It is comprised of numerous chapters, most of which begin with the nameless protagonist waking up in his apartment and being tasked to complete a certain amount of massacres against an unspecific criminal organization at the behest of your answering machine. As hallucinations and reality become increasingly impossible to differentiate, moments of lucidity where you are given the opportunity to reflect on your actions become disturbingly non-existent.

In my project, I want to investigate whether the concept of player choice holds any value and if a video game can provide the territory for a meaning philosophical investigation today. With the factor of responsibility and authored narrative surrounding us, are we able to resist and rationally control our enjoyment of a game wherein you are tasked with committing immoral acts? The philosophers I will use are: Paul Ricoeur and his mimetic narrative of culture and Slovaj Zizek and his views on personal identity in the artistic video gaming world.

Tags morality, Ricoeur, video games