Haworth, Michael. 2013. Thought into being: finitude and creation. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

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Abstract or Description

This thesis is a response to the increasingly widespread belief in the potential for technology and modern science to enable finite subjects to overcome the essential limitations constitutive of finitude and, hence, subjectivity. It investigates the truth and extent of such claims, taking as its focus quasi-miraculous technological developments in neuroscience, in particular Brain-Computer Interfacing systems and cognitive imaging technologies. The work poses the question of whether such emergent neurotechnologies signal a profound shift beyond receptivity and finitude by effectively bridging the gap between interiority and exteriority. Organised around a quadripartite division, the thesis pursues this idea firstly with regard to the act of artistic creation; secondly through an exegesis of Kant’s account of the original or infinite creativity of the Supreme Being; thirdly through readings of Freud and Jung and their respective models of the psyche; and finally through an interrogation into the possibility of telepathy and the various ways in which it can be conceived. Each chapter thus takes place as an extended thought experiment, exploring the consequences of a seemingly unprecedented proposition that promises to eradicate the finite gap between internal and external. This is followed to the limits of conceivability before asking in each case whether we may in fact need to rethink the very premises around which each proposition has framed the problem.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00008053
Keywords:	finitude, art, technology, neuroscience, Immanuel Kant, Slavoj Zizek, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jacques Derrida
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Visual Cultures
Date:	March 2013
Item ID:	8053
Date Deposited:	09 May 2013 12:34
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2022 01:26
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/8053

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