This Master thesis has conducted a research centring around freedom in videogames. Via means of Ubisoft’s action-adventure videogame Assassin’s Creed II (2009) this thesis aims to determine the...Show moreThis Master thesis has conducted a research centring around freedom in videogames. Via means of Ubisoft’s action-adventure videogame Assassin’s Creed II (2009) this thesis aims to determine the extent in which the player is free and able to experience freedom in both Assassin’s Creed II individually, as well as compared to three videogames to provide a contextualised framework specifically for Assassin’s Creed II as is used in the methodological framework of this thesis. The three compared videogames being Minecraft (2011), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011), and Halo Wars (2009) have worked towards providing a contextualised answer in discussed modes of freedom as depicted and present in Assassin’s Creed II. Via both surface layer narrative and underlying structural algorithmic build of videogames, Assassin’s Creed II has been analysed using a philosophical approach via theories and debates on freedom, as well as via the use of algorithmic models and the potential dangers algorithms pose in regards to the player-experience of freedom in videogames. Ultimately, this thesis uncovered the potential dangers of algorithms within Assassin’s Creed II, and thereupon via the compared videogames the potential controlling-tendencies of the use of algorithms in the digital environment.Show less
This paper addresses the question whether it is possible to make an argument in defense of the existence of free will on the basis of the indeterminism of the theory of quantum mechanics. To do so,...Show moreThis paper addresses the question whether it is possible to make an argument in defense of the existence of free will on the basis of the indeterminism of the theory of quantum mechanics. To do so, first the most basic approach is examined, attempting to formulate an argument for the possibility of free will on the basis of quantum mechanics and biology. After demonstrating the problems with this and showing that there is some unclarity regarding the relationship between determinism and free will, the paper turns to analyzing the concepts of determinism and free will and proposes that free will could best be understood as self-determination. This allows for the possibility of free will to be argued on the basis of Humean Supervenience. It is then argued that by way of the Copenhagen Interpretation, which is likened to phenomenology, quantum mechanics can make a case for this which is similar to the Best Systems Approach. After constructing an analysis of what the universe is on the basis of this way of thinking, and using the relation between a video game and a player as an analogy to explain how this affects the relationship between determinism and free will, the paper argues that free will can be completely compatible with being fully determined by the universe, but not with being determined by the rest of the universe. Finally, the paper proposes self-consciousness as an additional requirement for free will if it is to be understood as self-determination and thus concludes that free will is possible on the basis of quantum-mechanical thinking, but not quantum indeterminacy itself.Show less
This thesis investigates the representation of female heroism in the nineteenth century in the novels Middlemarch by George Eliot and Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. It concludes that...Show moreThis thesis investigates the representation of female heroism in the nineteenth century in the novels Middlemarch by George Eliot and Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. It concludes that both determinist authors imply that female heroism was not possible on the scale of romantic heroes, or able to reach its full potential. However, both writers give their heroines the best possible ending; their actions can influence a small part of the web of causality around them. This quiet heroism is their small but important power.Show less
