Portfolio
Below are hyperlinks to my blog posts from the semester
This is my introduction to the course and other honors students.
My second post about what interests me in history, and why I study it. History is still extremely absorbing to me, and enjoyable to learn about, and over the course of this semester I’ve discovered many of the nuances that come with studying history in depth.
My third post details my thought process when choosing a topic, but was still very narrow for the time. Originally I was studying intellectuals through Modern Western Civilization, but eventually narrowed further to ethical philosophers.
The first writing assignment I submitted for the course. It argues for the influence of economists and philosophers, ethical philosophers as well, and their influence on the American Revolution.
This is one of the first posts that really moved my work forward. It outlines the history of the ethical school of thought “Utilitarianism” and the philosophers of the 18th & 19th century that coined the term. Utilitarianism is one of my larger pieces of focus in my essay, and this secondary source was very important to the research that I’ve conducted.
This thesis ideas has since been moved past. I was originally going to focus on the ethical shifts that occurred during wartime, but found that much of my evidence was found in the United States, and I needed to search broader.
A post that is reflective of my earlier thesis, as it focuses on FDR and his “New Deal” policies that helped pull the United States from its 1930s Depression. Had I continued with my “wartime ethics” idea and thesis, this would have likely been an important bit of research.
And the last of my United States centered posts. This journal, while not beneficial to my current research, was extremely interesting, comparing and contrasting the acts taken by FDR in his New Deal with the acts taken by Adolf Hitler with his rise and the rise of National Socialism in Germany.
As my work began to shift towards my current thesis, I took a trip to New York City. This post documents my field work in the New York Public Library and the books I read through while there. The two books were incredibly useful as they helped to form my understanding of ethical philosophy and the basic history behind it, outlining the ideologies taken by philosophers and the philosophers themselves.
This article was a bit denser than others, but was extremely useful in my understanding of Utilitarianism and the culture of 19th century England. The author relates the idea of authors gaining autonomy for their work in England, that being a gift and a curse to the bourgeois, and the similarities between this rise and the rise of Utilitarian ideas.
This post was outlining the various sources I used for my research at that time. Many of the sources I’m citing often in my final paper.
Another incredibly important work for my research. This article explores the differences and similarities taken by David Hume and Benedict de Spinoza, focusing on the idea of medicina mentis, or “mind medicine” and its application from both philosophers. What was incredibly important to me about this work was seeing the differences that arose between the two philosophers, which is the main focus of my essay.
This is an annotated bibliography of the work I’ve consulted. For my final bibliography I’ll being adding several books detailing the histories of 17th, 18th, and 19th century Britain and Europe.
The most recent post that I’ve submitted, which still needs to be updated with annotations. These two books have been very helpful in detailing the society and events that were contemporary during the period when the philosophers of my essay were working on their works. I’ve cited this books many times in my essay.
The first and very rough draft of the essay. Citations, a working bibliography, and overall grammatical corrections are still needed in this iteration of the essay. The focus during this essay was largely on the legislature that British government passed in order to better aid the poor, but arguing it as an influencing factor of the philosophy was fairly impractical.
This is the final essay post. Significant changes were made from the first and very rough draft, and this final version. In accordance with Professor Lane’s suggestions, the historical aspects of the essay were intermingled with the actual philosophical divergence to better construct a coherent history paper, instead of a philosophy paper with historical context. The focus of the thesis was also shifted away from government legislature, and towards general social phenomenons of overpopulation, starvation, and income decline.
Good start! We’ll need to come back and complete this with drafts of the final paper.