Within this thesis, the morality of the objectification of women within social media is explored. First of all, the theoretical perspectives on objectification are examined through a feminist lens....Show moreWithin this thesis, the morality of the objectification of women within social media is explored. First of all, the theoretical perspectives on objectification are examined through a feminist lens. It is found that there is a considerable debate within the scholars. Some are of the opinion that objectification is always morally wrong, and others believe that it is dependent on the context in which it occurs. Next, the criteria necessary for the context are developed and analyzed through some examples. Finally, these criteria are applied to social media, and it is discovered that not all criteria are met. This indicates that a negative form of objectification has occurred which can be harmful. The conclusion is drawn that the objectification of women within social media is morally unacceptable.Show less
This thesis examines how brain drain can be problematized in light of relational egalitarianism. This approach views the existing economy as that of joint production as it relies heavily on mutual...Show moreThis thesis examines how brain drain can be problematized in light of relational egalitarianism. This approach views the existing economy as that of joint production as it relies heavily on mutual dependency between citizens. Here, it aims to find whether the moral duty citizens hold towards one another can legitimately place restrictions on freedom of movement in the case of brain drain. Through taking relational egalitarianism to its normative furthests, it becomes clear that the right to exit can legitimately be constricted.Show less
Is the term ‘hallucination’ as it is used within the context of generative AI merely a metaphor? An investigation how hallucinations arise in the human perceptual system and in modern generative AI
This thesis argues that fiction and eventually play, accumulating into the interactive fiction of video games, can offer a toolset to help cultivate familiarity and understanding between cultures....Show moreThis thesis argues that fiction and eventually play, accumulating into the interactive fiction of video games, can offer a toolset to help cultivate familiarity and understanding between cultures. In a world where cultures are living closer together than before, tensions between cultures are sure to rise. These tensions stem from a lack of shared context causing misinterpretations of the other. I will refer to the works of Wilhelm Dilthey and Robin Collingwood, who have both developed theories of hermeneutics that emphasise the importance of context as meaning-giving. Similar contexts provide similar meaning between people and vice versa. A lack in familiarity thus constitutes a lack in understanding, which poses a problem for the cross-cultural encounter. They suggest a hermeneutic method based on empathy in order to increase our understanding of others. In the second chapter, I will illustrate how fiction functions as both a tool to impart knowledge and as an exercise in empathy, which aids the hermeneutic process, drawing on Suzanne Keen’s theory of narrative empathy. When engaging with fiction, audiences temporarily abandon their own context in order to step into the alternate world of fiction. This encourages open-mindedness and empathic understanding of others, which both are of vital importance to the hermeneutic process. In the third chapter, I’ll move on play, showing how it, like fiction, demands a certain openness of mind from the player so they can step into the play-world, which makes play very well-suited to learning by doing. This section on play will be largely informed by Johan Huizinga and Miguel Sicart’s work on play and playfulness respectively. In requiring participation from its audience, they are absorbed into the other, the strange, and the new, and provided with tools to make sense of it. As an immersive and interactive medium, video games thus allow players to gain an intuitive understanding of other cultures on their own terms.Show less
Humanity’s excessive consumptive behaviour is the primary cause of ecological destruction. Yet, neither lowering consumption nor production levels seem to be addressed in environmental policies and...Show moreHumanity’s excessive consumptive behaviour is the primary cause of ecological destruction. Yet, neither lowering consumption nor production levels seem to be addressed in environmental policies and thus remain notably high. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the psychological roots of humanity’s ecologically destructive consumptive behaviour. My hypothesis is that ecological alienation and self-alienation are the main, compounding factors of ecologically destructive consumptive behaviour. Ecological alienation leads to devaluation of nature. As environmental values are paramount to sustainability-driven behaviour, devaluation of nature decreases the prevalence of such behaviour. Additionally, I argue that humanity’s excessive consumption is driven by consumptive addiction whereby individuals substitute their authentic physical, mental and emotional needs with consumption; and that this consumptive addiction is rooted in self-alienation. I suggest that ecological alienation and self-alienation are themselves rooted in the modern industrial worldview and its related value systems, and that these factors influence and reinforce each other. Ultimately, what is necessary to counter ecologically destructive addictive consumptive behaviour might be exactly what runs the risk of being indefinitely destroyed because of it: humanity’s reconnection with nature.Show less
"So then one question arises: who truly is legitimate to say “me too” in any social movement. As it does so, it interrogates: is there truly a way to know who is or isn’t to be the advocate of a...Show more"So then one question arises: who truly is legitimate to say “me too” in any social movement. As it does so, it interrogates: is there truly a way to know who is or isn’t to be the advocate of a cause. In this is the idea that there exists by opposition individuals who are considered to hold a justified role in defending a cause and are drawn as referents and entitled to a responsibility. Perhaps getting at the root of such interrogations then implies understanding how do those individuals define the origin of their responsibility in situations of social unrest. How to pinpoint such ‘responsible’ individuals is a question of first order. Responsibility entails putting something at stake in order to carry charge for a given issue. Its origin, however, is tricky to untangle as it emerges from an idiosyncratic balance between a personal sense of duty and a specific context which thrusts individuals into their engagement with hardly distinguishable degrees of influence.10 Because of how unfathomable this distinction can seem, a time-based comparison of ‘responsible’ agents in different settings yet with similar objectives would allow one to retrace whether beyond specific contexts, intrinsic features unite the process guiding their political involvement. (...) As gathering evidence is a tricky task in social movement analysis, this study cannot avoid stumbling upon its shortfalls if it is to ascertain a metaphysical truth about the origins of individual responsibility in politics. It can, nevertheless, couple representative data with observations made throughout the history of thought to hint at its general teneur and how it sheds light on the perception of legitimate participants of political action. In this attempt, the present work will study whether the mechanisms which trigger individual responsibility in politics can be identified through a time-based comparison of feminist activism in the United-States looking at the movements represented by Angela Davis and #MeToo.Show less
In 1960 Eugene Wigner wrote the famous article: “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in The Natural Sciences”. Here Wigner claims mathematics is the star of the show in natural science,...Show moreIn 1960 Eugene Wigner wrote the famous article: “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in The Natural Sciences”. Here Wigner claims mathematics is the star of the show in natural science, as mathematical formulations lead to amazing and accurate descriptions of a large class of phenomena. Mathematical concepts, although invented in isolation from the natural sciences, are effective ‘beyond all reasonable explanation’. This effectiveness has puzzled commentators ever since. But Wigner seems to presuppose a fairly simplistic relation between mathematics and the natural world: the effectiveness of the application of mathematics to the world can be immediately interpreted as effectiveness of mathematics itself. But is it indeed that simple? Should we not pay more attention to the process of application itself?Show less
Since its inception, many changes to the concept of ‘autism’ have been suggested, by both autistic people and researchers. Recently, the number of people diagnosed with a form of autism has...Show moreSince its inception, many changes to the concept of ‘autism’ have been suggested, by both autistic people and researchers. Recently, the number of people diagnosed with a form of autism has increased, and a contemporary topic of discussion is whether it should be defined as a disorder, a mere human variation, or something else. As society is inclined to stigmatise eccentricity, it is important that the definition used does not harm autistic people, or misrepresent the large variety of their experiences. This thesis argues that the fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders’ (DSM-5) current conceptualisation of autism as ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’ is both inaccurate and dangerous. Definitions from all DSMs are described, and the motivations behind the changes between DSMs are considered, alongside arguments from a collection of philosophers. The conclusion is that the components ‘Spectrum’ and ‘Disorder’ in ‘ASD’ risk inciting stigmatisation and suggest a more uniform expression than autism actually has. Thus, an alternative definition much be found. This alternative, which could be pursued through further research, should give autistic people a way to think about their identity, and non-autistic people a way to accurately understand and describe the diverse autistic experiences, both negative and positive.Show less
This thesis explores cultural paradigms. Part I accepts and expands upon Arditi's base definition of cultural paradigms as being inextricably linked with our understanding of cultural roles. Part...Show moreThis thesis explores cultural paradigms. Part I accepts and expands upon Arditi's base definition of cultural paradigms as being inextricably linked with our understanding of cultural roles. Part II applies Foucauldian theories on 'discursive forms of knowledge' to understand the relationship between 'knowledge' and 'being' that is exemplified by cultural paradigms. Part III focuses on other discursive aspects of cultural paradigms regarding the enunciations of knowledge and being, namely 'bias' and 'style'. While cultural paradigms might be colloquially generalized, that generalization is made up of a web of subject-based breaks and modifications of shared cultural paradigms by way of enunciations of knowledge and being. In conclusion, this thesis establishes that cultural paradigms are themselves indeterminate and that subjectivity ultimately can arise to edit cultural paradigms and alter the contours of their evolution.Show less
There is increasing awareness of the importance of the body in psychology and philosophy of mind. Embodied accounts of the self are promising in explaining the perceived unity and continuity...Show moreThere is increasing awareness of the importance of the body in psychology and philosophy of mind. Embodied accounts of the self are promising in explaining the perceived unity and continuity characteristic of it: the body provides spatiotemporal locatedness, and embodied experience provides relationships to and interaction with the environment. Given this emphasis on the body, it is surprising to find a lack of consideration of how the embodied self persists through time: as a three-dimensional entity, or rather as a four-dimensional one with temporal parts as well as spatial parts? Conversely, in discussions on persistence over time, a purely mental approach is dominant. I set out to detail the metaphysical debate on persistence, how it is typically applied to persons, and develop a novel account merging various influential lines of thought. The result is an embodied self as a perduring, bio-processual entity.Show less
The present thesis analyzes two works: Les Hommes centre l'human from Gabriel Marcel (1951) and Maus II from Art Spiegelmann (1991). The first one is a philosophical essay, very representative of...Show moreThe present thesis analyzes two works: Les Hommes centre l'human from Gabriel Marcel (1951) and Maus II from Art Spiegelmann (1991). The first one is a philosophical essay, very representative of the post-war French existentialist thoughts. The second one is a graphic novel about the Holocaust. Gabriel Marcel's philosophy is used in order to elucidate and get a better understanding of Spiegelman's interpretation of the Nazi crimes against the Jewish people. This thesis can also be situated in the larger framework of linking visual arts and philosophical texts, which is a developing but still not common process.Show less
The question of minority treatment, and illiberal minority treatment in particular, is an often contended subject among political philosophers. As most Western liberal democracies are multicultural...Show moreThe question of minority treatment, and illiberal minority treatment in particular, is an often contended subject among political philosophers. As most Western liberal democracies are multicultural it seems that this topic will remain relevant for a long time to come. This thesis presents the arguments of both autonomy liberalism and toleration liberalism in respect to the treatment of illiberal cultures within a liberal democratic state. While the arguments for toleration-based approach to liberalism are acknowledged and discussed, I devote a significant portion of this work to the defence of personal autonomy as the fundamental value within liberalism, as well as a value necessary to be acknowledged even by illiberal immigrant groups residing within a liberal democracy. Literature on the subject by well-established political philosophers is often focused solely on examples relevant to the United States of America, Canada or United Kingdom. The scope of this thesis is aimed at cases and national minorities relevant to Western Europe. The limits to toleration of illiberal minorities, which I establish in chapter 3, are in large part influenced by my understanding of personal autonomy as the fundamental value of liberalism, as well as by my interpretation of Raz's perception of personal value in both liberal and illiberal states. The differentiation of national minorities relevant to Europe from those relevant to the American continent is the focus for selecting the guiding principles for the evaluation of self-government claims of said minorities, a topic to which the entire chapter 4 is devoted.Show less
