Yeah yeah, "I shall update this blog weekly!" and then vanishing for a couple months. Doesn't actually make any real impact on anything in the big scheme of things darnit.
So what's new? First academic essay of the year went better than I had hoped (I have a policy against publicly announcing my results because people who do that annoy me) which was a good start to my postgrad studies. Second essay... I'm getting it back tomorrow and am prepared for the worst tbh - the first half's actually quite good, the second is unreadable nonsense (which the cynic would say is the point of continental philosophy...) I've submitted the abstract for my self-directed study essay, which will be on the effects of de-ritualisation in the formation of protestant identity. Because why not? Oh and I'm currently working on a research proposal for a PhD, the deadline for which is mid-January.
Yeah, that last bit's the scary one. And not just because I've not even worked out the subject of my masters dissertation yet and I'm already trying to write a detailed proposal for my doctoral thesis! Honestly the hardest part is the nagging feeling of "is this good enough?" I have ideas, but I don't know if I can make them come together as a whole which is worthy of studying at that level. More to the point, I don't have the omniscience required to be sure that I'm not just rehashing someone else's work. I think it's original, but what if it's not? And indeed what happens if my ideas are all great, but nobody anywhere is willing to supervise me? It's a really strange experience.
Basically what I'm thinking of is, perhaps unsurprisingly, about philosophy of performance. More specifically I want to look at theatre, and at acting, and all that good stuff. Beyond that I'm... not exactly sure yet, Deleuze has a lot of ideas that are disturbingly close to what I want to look at but at the same time I'm loathe to abandon the Heideggerian approach. My instinct is to attempt to somehow combine the two - find new connections, create a new point of view but that's a lot easier said than done.
And to top it all off I think I have a cold.
Monday, 9 December 2013
Thursday, 24 October 2013
Postgraduate study and other masochisms.
Well, it's been a while since anything was posted here, and perhaps that should change. I'm thinking I'll commit to a minimum of one update per week.
But what shall those updates be on? Well, a lot is new since last we met: Dave and I have both graduated and moved on to the world of postgraduate study - I'm doing a Master of Letters in Continental Philosophy at Dundee whilst Dave has abandoned philosophy to study law at Queens (Boo! Hiss!). My research these days is very much centred around philosophy of performance, with an in-progress essay on ritual and a few fascinating theories which may or may not find their way into my dissertation involving the narrative nature of self-identity and the general phenomenological experience of man. Or maybe I'll do something about Brecht, there's a lot still left unsaid there I feel.
As regards the undergrad dissertation that I gave occasional rantings on, the ambitiously titled Can Roleplaying Games Provide a Source of Understanding Towards Questions of Being? was received well, and although there were definite criticisms that will need addressing should I decide to do anything with it in the future (perhaps the basic argument could be reworked for publication) I have to admit to being somewhat proud of the work.
To that end, my one-or-more-weekly posts shall discuss topics of identity, performance, role-play, and perhaps a little madness. Should be fun.
But what shall those updates be on? Well, a lot is new since last we met: Dave and I have both graduated and moved on to the world of postgraduate study - I'm doing a Master of Letters in Continental Philosophy at Dundee whilst Dave has abandoned philosophy to study law at Queens (Boo! Hiss!). My research these days is very much centred around philosophy of performance, with an in-progress essay on ritual and a few fascinating theories which may or may not find their way into my dissertation involving the narrative nature of self-identity and the general phenomenological experience of man. Or maybe I'll do something about Brecht, there's a lot still left unsaid there I feel.
As regards the undergrad dissertation that I gave occasional rantings on, the ambitiously titled Can Roleplaying Games Provide a Source of Understanding Towards Questions of Being? was received well, and although there were definite criticisms that will need addressing should I decide to do anything with it in the future (perhaps the basic argument could be reworked for publication) I have to admit to being somewhat proud of the work.
To that end, my one-or-more-weekly posts shall discuss topics of identity, performance, role-play, and perhaps a little madness. Should be fun.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Bertolt Brecht and Tabletop Roleplay
In his Short Organum For The Theatre, Bertolt Brecht makes the following observation;
In many ways, this gets to the heart of the analysis of Role-Playing Games which is currently the focus of my dissertation research. Let's be clear on what is being said: Brecht is putting forth that the characters on stage act not as subjects but as objects, moved by their social conditions. His "critical attitude" is a result of having characters moving as if by the social conditions of today, in a historical setting. This is arguably where the RPG excels - we may play at being characters in fantasy settings, or in real history, or in whatever scenario, but at some point the characters are being played by people influenced by current day social impulses, and those impulses will reflect down onto the characters. A wonderful example is Grey Ranks by Bully Pulpit Games, a game about child soldiers during the 1945 Warsaw uprising, which I have recently had the joy of playing through a full three-session game of. And I do mean joy - it was one of the greatest, most emotional experiences I have ever had whilst roleplaying. But this is where it becomes interesting - I'm not 16-year-old girl from 1940's Warsaw. I don't have the experience of that, and I certainly don't know the social impulses that she would be moved by. My portrayal of that character was through the lense of a 24-year-old male university student from 21st century Scotland. In many ways, the same can be said of any RPG - do I empathise with my characters? Or is it perhaps more true that my representation of them is an untrue one - one which is shaped by who I am, and how I see the world? My thesis is a simple one: that by taking on board an awareness of this, the RPG just as Brecht's epic theatre can be used to harness the so-called critical attitude and to allow a deeper examination of the truth of one's being.
If we ensure that our characters on the stage are moved by social impulses and that these differ according to the period, then we make it harder for for our spectator to identify with them. He cannot simply feel: that's how I would act, but can at most say: if I had lived under those circumstances. and if we play works dealing with our own time as though they were historical, then perhaps the circumstances under which he himself acts will strike him as equally odd; and this is where the critical attitude begins.
In many ways, this gets to the heart of the analysis of Role-Playing Games which is currently the focus of my dissertation research. Let's be clear on what is being said: Brecht is putting forth that the characters on stage act not as subjects but as objects, moved by their social conditions. His "critical attitude" is a result of having characters moving as if by the social conditions of today, in a historical setting. This is arguably where the RPG excels - we may play at being characters in fantasy settings, or in real history, or in whatever scenario, but at some point the characters are being played by people influenced by current day social impulses, and those impulses will reflect down onto the characters. A wonderful example is Grey Ranks by Bully Pulpit Games, a game about child soldiers during the 1945 Warsaw uprising, which I have recently had the joy of playing through a full three-session game of. And I do mean joy - it was one of the greatest, most emotional experiences I have ever had whilst roleplaying. But this is where it becomes interesting - I'm not 16-year-old girl from 1940's Warsaw. I don't have the experience of that, and I certainly don't know the social impulses that she would be moved by. My portrayal of that character was through the lense of a 24-year-old male university student from 21st century Scotland. In many ways, the same can be said of any RPG - do I empathise with my characters? Or is it perhaps more true that my representation of them is an untrue one - one which is shaped by who I am, and how I see the world? My thesis is a simple one: that by taking on board an awareness of this, the RPG just as Brecht's epic theatre can be used to harness the so-called critical attitude and to allow a deeper examination of the truth of one's being.
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