Tag: responsibility

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2010 Abstracts Stage 3

Ignoring the Other: an Enquiry into Levinasian Ethics and Child Abuse

For Levinas, the human being undergoes an ethical epiphany when it encounters the human Other. The subject, when faced by the Other, is commanded to respect it and care over it. A parent, when faced with the ethical presence of their newborn child, is called to rise to the responsibility and autonomy this human life demands…

16% of children experience serious maltreatment at the hands of their parents

The aim of this project is to explore ethical irresponsibility and the effects of abusive parenting. It shall argue that the experience of abuse distorts a child’s very structure of being. As such, the abuse victim’s understanding of themselves, their place in the world, and their relation to the Other is corrupted. This corruption can lead to difficulties in placing abuse within the construct of a coherent narrative identity. Similarly, it can effect a victim’s ability to appropriately relate to others as Other in later life.

It shall draw on texts from both Levinas’ philosophical discourse and cognitive research. To bring certain abstract concepts to life it shall introduce case studies of abuse victims.

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2009 Abstracts Stage 2

If we Possess Free-Will, how was the Holocaust Allowed to Happen?

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?

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2009 Abstracts Stage 2

To Whom are we Responsible?

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?