Can you suggest resources or further ideas for a student starting a master's thesis in philosophy?
September 19, 2011 8:13 AM Subscribe
Can you suggest resources or further ideas for a student starting a master's thesis in philosophy (the topic touches on racism and discrimination)?
I'm asking this question for a friend who is about to start work on a master's thesis in philosophy. The main question she will attempt to explore is the concept of racism and discrimination (or in more general terms, the idea of us vs. them, judging certain groups of people as subhuman with regard to ourselves).
Her proposed treatment is to explore Descartes (dualism), Gilbert Ryle (ghost in the maching), Thomas Nagel (what is it like to be a bat) and possibly John Stuart Mill and Thomas Reid (their theory of analogy). She would view their views of humanity and existence in order to understand racism and discrimination.
Does this make sense as a thesis subject? Can you suggest alternative authors or theories to look at? Can you suggest useful books, articles or other resources for her?
I'm asking this question for a friend who is about to start work on a master's thesis in philosophy. The main question she will attempt to explore is the concept of racism and discrimination (or in more general terms, the idea of us vs. them, judging certain groups of people as subhuman with regard to ourselves).
Her proposed treatment is to explore Descartes (dualism), Gilbert Ryle (ghost in the maching), Thomas Nagel (what is it like to be a bat) and possibly John Stuart Mill and Thomas Reid (their theory of analogy). She would view their views of humanity and existence in order to understand racism and discrimination.
Does this make sense as a thesis subject? Can you suggest alternative authors or theories to look at? Can you suggest useful books, articles or other resources for her?
I agree with k8t. However, one note is that you phrase it as the "main question" yet never really offer a question. A good thesis starts with the research question being very clear.
posted by quodlibet at 8:51 AM on September 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by quodlibet at 8:51 AM on September 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
I'm not seeing a really promising start here. An MA thesis needs to be pretty narrowly focused. I don't even see the germ of an idea in what you've written here.
Maybe she has done ways of using these concepts in a thesis on racism and discrimination, and she just hasn't shared it with you or you're not spelling it out ... But so far I'm not seeing a topic.
posted by jayder at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2011
Maybe she has done ways of using these concepts in a thesis on racism and discrimination, and she just hasn't shared it with you or you're not spelling it out ... But so far I'm not seeing a topic.
posted by jayder at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2011
I would urge her to look at, say, some of Robert Bernasconi's work on the philosophy of race.
posted by jayder at 9:27 AM on September 19, 2011
posted by jayder at 9:27 AM on September 19, 2011
I'm with Jayder. This 'topic' makes no sense, and your friend needs to talk to her advisor.
Why is she not reading material about race? Sally Haslanger at MIT has some interesting papers; otherwise I'm not sure where to point you (not my area).
posted by kestrel251 at 10:43 AM on September 19, 2011
Why is she not reading material about race? Sally Haslanger at MIT has some interesting papers; otherwise I'm not sure where to point you (not my area).
posted by kestrel251 at 10:43 AM on September 19, 2011
There are 1001 possible topics here. Best idea is to get more specific about what issue is interesting and focus in tight.
e.g. Fricker's "Epistemic Injustice" if she's interested in how race and gender affect how we listen to each other. One of her points: bias produces a credibility excess/deficit. Talking about one kind of discrimination would almost certainly be more interesting than talking about discrimination in general, especially at master's thesis length.
Descartes (dualism), Gilbert Ryle (ghost in the maching), Thomas Nagel (what is it like to be a bat) and possibly John Stuart Mill and Thomas Reid (their theory of analogy).
Can you ask her for a few sentences on what she takes the connection to be and post them here? That would help us help her.
One thing: she needs to make use of the vast secondary literature on the big names, not just go over their views as though it were obvious what each of them is talking about.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:58 AM on September 19, 2011
e.g. Fricker's "Epistemic Injustice" if she's interested in how race and gender affect how we listen to each other. One of her points: bias produces a credibility excess/deficit. Talking about one kind of discrimination would almost certainly be more interesting than talking about discrimination in general, especially at master's thesis length.
Descartes (dualism), Gilbert Ryle (ghost in the maching), Thomas Nagel (what is it like to be a bat) and possibly John Stuart Mill and Thomas Reid (their theory of analogy).
Can you ask her for a few sentences on what she takes the connection to be and post them here? That would help us help her.
One thing: she needs to make use of the vast secondary literature on the big names, not just go over their views as though it were obvious what each of them is talking about.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:58 AM on September 19, 2011
It sounds like your friend has a really good background in the history of philosophy. All the sources you list are the really famous pieces that are often taught to undergraduates. However, I think it's a bit of a warning sign that your friend's list has only those big names.
Tell your friend she seriously needs to talk to her MA adviser. If she doesn't have one yet, she needs to talk to someone in her department who works in the areas that interest her. She needs to really start researching the philosophy of race and related issues. She needs to find one or two main texts that A) are philosophically significant; B) are directly related to the topic she wants to discuss; C) were written within, say, the last ten or twenty years; and D) lead to an interesting question that can be answered in the length her department says an MA thesis should be.
Now, OP's friend: I'm sorry everyone in this thread is being so critical. Sorry; that's philosophy for you. What you need to take from this thread is that you are definitely at the right point to start researching for your thesis. It's great that you know a general topic that interests you. You just will not be prepared to start composing your thesis (or even brainstorm about it) until you know some more about the topic you like. If you really just need a place to start, go to philpapers.org, search for "philosophy of race," and see what comes up. (Likely, the exact articles that come up won't ultimately be the ones you want to use, but you can read through their notes to find what texts are significant.) Most important, however: Get someone to guide you. You're not supposed to be alone in this. If you're in an MA program, there should be professors all around you whose job is to help you. There should be much better sources for assistance than random weirdos on the internet.
posted by meese at 5:32 PM on September 19, 2011
Tell your friend she seriously needs to talk to her MA adviser. If she doesn't have one yet, she needs to talk to someone in her department who works in the areas that interest her. She needs to really start researching the philosophy of race and related issues. She needs to find one or two main texts that A) are philosophically significant; B) are directly related to the topic she wants to discuss; C) were written within, say, the last ten or twenty years; and D) lead to an interesting question that can be answered in the length her department says an MA thesis should be.
Now, OP's friend: I'm sorry everyone in this thread is being so critical. Sorry; that's philosophy for you. What you need to take from this thread is that you are definitely at the right point to start researching for your thesis. It's great that you know a general topic that interests you. You just will not be prepared to start composing your thesis (or even brainstorm about it) until you know some more about the topic you like. If you really just need a place to start, go to philpapers.org, search for "philosophy of race," and see what comes up. (Likely, the exact articles that come up won't ultimately be the ones you want to use, but you can read through their notes to find what texts are significant.) Most important, however: Get someone to guide you. You're not supposed to be alone in this. If you're in an MA program, there should be professors all around you whose job is to help you. There should be much better sources for assistance than random weirdos on the internet.
posted by meese at 5:32 PM on September 19, 2011
Seconding kestrel and jayder that the lack of overt material on race, particularly considering these authors' context, is striking; seconding quodlibet that "the main question...is the concept" is not really a question. Thinking specifically about critiques of theories of distinction/discrimination, has your friend thought about Frantz Fanon's critique of Hegel's master/slave analogy?
posted by kickingthecrap at 8:42 PM on September 19, 2011
posted by kickingthecrap at 8:42 PM on September 19, 2011
keijo, has your friend considered writing a thesis on how philosophy deals with scientific research on race? There is much research of interest, not to mention politically explosive topics like the intelligence gaps. Think of Watsongate for example. How do philosophers deal with the findings of such research?
This topic ties into the broader question of how we view humanity, society, the purpose of living, etc. when science casts cold water on our hopes, dreams and cherished ideals. So it ties in to her main topic, as you've expressed it, quite nicely.
posted by mekko at 10:32 PM on October 8, 2011
This topic ties into the broader question of how we view humanity, society, the purpose of living, etc. when science casts cold water on our hopes, dreams and cherished ideals. So it ties in to her main topic, as you've expressed it, quite nicely.
posted by mekko at 10:32 PM on October 8, 2011
Your friend does not have an argument. Based on the topics you mentioned that she would like to cover, it sounds like she's overly ambitious. An MA thesis in philosophy usually isn't longer than 30 pages. There is no way to include all of that stuff and still have a well-developed argument... unless those sources are going to make a few-sentence appearance as a historical introduction...
She cannot choose a thesis prior to doing the research, as one person suggested. Her advisor should help her find a list of proper literature to begin with that will guide her in the proper direction. A thesis is only formed in doing the research, not before it.
A good place to start if she is really floating around might just be to look at the SEP articles on Philosophy of Race and check out what the foundational literature is by looking at the citations.
posted by terezaakarenin at 1:49 PM on October 12, 2011
She cannot choose a thesis prior to doing the research, as one person suggested. Her advisor should help her find a list of proper literature to begin with that will guide her in the proper direction. A thesis is only formed in doing the research, not before it.
A good place to start if she is really floating around might just be to look at the SEP articles on Philosophy of Race and check out what the foundational literature is by looking at the citations.
posted by terezaakarenin at 1:49 PM on October 12, 2011
An MA thesis in philosophy usually isn't longer than 30 pages.
This isn't true in my experience. It may very well be true in terezaakarenin's, though. Expectations vary by department. The only way to know how long your MA thesis should be is to talk to other people in your department.
posted by meese at 2:33 PM on October 12, 2011
This isn't true in my experience. It may very well be true in terezaakarenin's, though. Expectations vary by department. The only way to know how long your MA thesis should be is to talk to other people in your department.
posted by meese at 2:33 PM on October 12, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by k8t at 8:41 AM on September 19, 2011