Category: Stage 3

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

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

PLAYBOY
The use of nude photography does not exclude a work from the sphere of art

Featured Articles

Rose: The Paradigm case of Pornography-Playboy does not possess the same explicit sexual characteristics of other ‘adult’ entertainment.
-In the production of Playboy, there is no violation of liberty or victim.

Noë: ‘strange tools’ -art is purely the subversion of function and purpose, that calls into question the surrounding presuppositions -Playboy does not have his same subversion intention.

Hegel- the closest instance to absolute truth within art is the human form “we must search out that in Nature which on its own merits
belongs to the essence and actuality of the mind…The human form is employed…exclusively as the existence and physical form correspond to themind” (Hegel, 2004)

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

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

“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)

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

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

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.

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

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

Does power equate to dominance? Is there a strength in submission?

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

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

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

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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

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

When NO means NO

Rape Culture: “a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalising or trivialising sexual assault and abuse.”
Consent: “someone agrees, gives permission, or says “yes” to sexual activity with other persons. Consent is always freely given and all people in a sexual situation must feel that they are able to say “yes” or “no” or stop the sexual activity at any point.”

Preliminary Questionnaire
 25 male students and 25 female students were asked to take part in a questionnaire about rape culture and what constitutes consent
 example: students were asked whether they thought women were sexually objectified – of the 25 females asked, they all said yes, and, in contrast, all 25 males said no
 questions also asked about the influence of drugs and/or alcohol in conjunction with sexual acts – whether an individual can consent to sex or not when under the influence

Case Studies
 3 cases used: Brock Turner, Judy Garland & Melanie Martinez
 all case studies had things in common but applied to the 3 thematic links of power, gender, freedom and agency

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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.

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

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

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.

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Can we resolve the conflict between Art and Science

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.

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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

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.

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Sexuality in the modern era is a social construct

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?

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Between Emancipation and Control: A critical discussion of social media in postmodern

Between Emancipation and Control: A Critical Discussion of Social Media in Postmodern Society

Is social media the key to emancipation, or the handcuffs prohibiting liberation? This project started from the object of social media and the claim that, as society has become highly mechanised, it is a further perpetuation of control and the very medium, which keeps individual behaviour in accordance with what is deemed socially acceptable. This project aimed to investigate this claim, using the case of Cambridge Analytica, to reach a conclusion to the overriding question: CAN SOCIAL MEDIA EMANCIPATE?

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

From Selfie to Surgery: The Impact of Technology on Human Self-Worth

An investigation into the ways that technology is used as a method of creating insecurities with the self, leading to cosmetic surgery and the sustainability of capitalism.

My aim of this investigation is to explore the effects of technological apps such as Snapchat and Instagram on self-esteem and confidence. Also to investigate how far there is a link between beautifying apps and the cosmetic surgery industry, in a 21st century society where the conception of beauty is given great importance.

In this investigation, I conduct a survey to understand the effects of technology. I ask questions regarding frequency of usage, confidence levels after usage and pressure in society surrounding beauty.

Philosophical Concept 1: Adorno and the Culture Industry
Philosophical Concept 2: Freud and ‘Civilisation and its Discontents’

Categories
2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Data-Mining

What is data-mining?
In the case of Cambridge Analytica, data-mining is extracting data from people’s social media accounts to gather information on them.

What is micro-targeting
Micro-targeting is using data and information gathered on people to identify their interests and beliefs and then use this to try influence them, in this case their political decisions.

Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica is a data analytics company founded in 2014. They manipulated Facebook in order to access millions of people’s personal details and information and used it to influence elections.

Democracy in the age of technology: a philosophical enquiry exploring the effect data-mining and micro-targeting has on a democratic government.
Philosophy used to explain this: Debord’s Society of the Spectacle and Rousseau’s Social Contract.

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Is the Queen, as portrayed and understood by the Netflix production ‘The Crown’, truly treated as an Other?

The Queen is not truly recognised by us for the work she does, but by the title she holds. Do we treat her as we should treat another human being, or do we treat her as if she is just her title?

The philosophy of Sartre and Levinas will be used as they both put forward a theory of the Other. We have an effect on the others freedom for both philosophers.

For Levinas, it is getting away from Heidegger’s view that we encounter everything with its use value. We have a relationship and a responsibility over the Other.

For Sartre, is the Queen acting in Bad Faith? Rather than recognising herself beyond her duty.

So, does the Queen restrict herself from becoming an Other, or do we restrict the Queen from being treated as an Other truly should be?

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

The Reality Of ‘Generation Snowflake’ In Relation To The Contemporary Situation Facing Free Speech

Generation Snowflake and The Contemporary Situation

Defined in the Collins English Dictionary – ” the generation of people who became adults in the 2010’s, viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generation”

How has ‘Generation Snowflake’ come to be?

Foucault’s analysis of the kind of power at work today in Generation Snowflake is the interference and dominance of medicine, a discreet mode of power facilitating the set-up of this transactional reality.

Does Free Speech Exist Today in ‘Generation Snowflake’?

Mill’s Harm Principle – to safeguard liberty and free speech, ” the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will, is to prevent harm to others”.

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2015 Abstracts Stage 3

Is the law economically or ethically routed? A study into Modern and Ancient Mesopotamian Laws

Objectives: To investigate the degree to which the law is both economically and ethically constituted – To compare and contrast Ancient Mesopotamian law with our own.
Territory: Modern EU law – The Code of Hammurabi (1754 BC) – Ancient Babylon – The Code of Ur-Nammu (2100 BC) – Ancient Sumer ‘ The German Ideology ’ – Marx ‘ Elements of the Philosophy of Right ’ – Hegel

Structure: I will begin by first describing both the Code of Hammurabi and the Code of UrNammu, subsequently contrasting them with Modern law. After this, Marx will be used to argue that the law is economically routed, whilst Hegel to state that it is ethical and has progressed over time. Finally there will be an analysis of the changes made in modern day law, to exhibit the shift away from the financial ‘burdens’ of ethics, in the era of late Capitalism.

“Political Economy regards the proletarian … like a horse, he must receive enough to enable him to work. It does not consider him, during the time when he is not working, as a human being.” – Karl Marx, 1844

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2015 Abstracts Stage 3

Assessing Rights in their Contemporary ‘Digital Age’, fitting old standard into their new medium: An investigation into the need for re-evaluation of rights in their contemporary age through the exploration of Free Speech on the internet

Central Thesis:
We have entered a ‘Digital Age’ new and peculiar to us and as such our basic system of rights needs to be updated to accommodate for this new age. The investigation into free speech on the internet provides compelling insight into this claim, with free speech doctrine not only being proved ineffective and outdated on the online medium but actually, I will argue, free speech is in danger.

“The world will not stand still and let us enjoy our freedoms. It will continually make itself anew, and as it does, we must consider the ever new methods by which it may be augmented or curtailed” Balkin (2001)

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2015 Abstracts Stage 3

To Commodify or Not to Commodify? That is NOT the Question

An investigation into the reciprocal roles of power and language in determining a fair agreement in “commodified sexuality”.

Aims
Is ‘commodified sexuality’ an accurate description of modern day prostitution? To discuss whether the implications of ‘objectification’ are metaphysically possible when one sells their sexual services for a price To analyse the power strategies present within sex work from environment to language Determine which effect of power is the most dangerous to the sex worker.

Project Outline
Identify confusions within the terms of commodity and commodification Emphasize that sex work involves labour, not the mere ‘selling of one’s body’ Identify a separation of a sex worker’s sexuality occurs through use of Karl Marx’s alienation Stress the limits of consent using Immanuel Kant Argue that the most powerful power structure is utilised without conscious thought: language

Philosophers & Key Texts
Martha Nussbaum: Sex & Social Justice (1999)
Sexual Objectification

Karl Marx: Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, 1843-44, Vol. 3 (2005) & Capital (1961)
Alienated Labour

Immanuel Kant: Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (2007)
Autonomy
Categorical Imperative
Sexual Contract of Marriage

Jürgen Habermas: The Theory of Communicative Action (1981)
Ideal Speech Arrangement