Literature Review 2025
More actions
File:Literature Review - Jacob D. Bekenstein, “Information in the Holographic Universe” (2003) - KALOYAN REAU.pdf File:InhoJeon LiteratureReview.docx File:Literature review Disneyland as Imaginary.pdf File:LiteraryReviewSA.pdf [[File:Esra Gundem- Literature Review- Reflections on Exile, Edward W. Said.docx|thumb]] File:Literature-review-noorTabatabaie.pdf File:Siddharta's literature review "What is it like to be a bat" by Thomas Nagel.pdf File:Ipek Usman Literature Review Glitch.pdf File:Literature review POLAK WOJCIECH.pdf File:Literature review Abi van Dam Jonny Anomaly.pdf File:Literature reviewLiciaNaspro.pdf File:Emma Soave Verdi, L. The Symbolic Body and the Rhetoric of Power, PRA (Padua Research Archive), 2010 .pdf File:Literature review (Hasse).pdf File:Literature review Hester Sjoers Schopenhauer.pdf
Title of text you are reviewing
Template for your literature review. Include your name and don't forget to cite your sources!!
Jacob D. Bekenstein, “Information in the Holographic Universe” (2003), Submitted by Kaloyan Reau
Nagel, Thomas. “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” The Philosophical Review 83, no. 4 (October 1974): 435–450 By Siddharta van der Sluis
Ethics for A-level. Capter 1, "Utilitarianism" section 1 to 4. Submmited by Floris van Leeuwen.
Said, Edward W. “Reflections on Exile.” In Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, 2nd ed., 173–86. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2000. Submitted by Esra Gundem
Fromm, Erich. To have or to be? Continuum, 2008. 23-140 Submmited by Inho Jeon
Jung, C. G. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle.
- Princeton University Press, 1973. 26–35 - Submitted by Patricia Saez
Introduction
In “Synchronicity”⁰, Carl Jung explores the concept of synchronicity, a “simultaneous occurrence of a certain psychic state with […] external events which appear as meaningful parallels to the momentary subjective state” (p.34), events that are meaningfully related but not causally connected. He argues that certain phenomena cannot be fully explained by notions of cause and effect. According to him, coincidences can reveal connections between the external world and unconscious psychic processes or “psychic conditions” (p.29). In this case, what many people call miracles could be seen as examples of synchronicity.
This raises the question: How can the illusion of miracles influence our perception of reality?
Miracles exist and influence our lives
Jung believed that the mind and the spirit affect our perception of physical material reality. He says that “space and time consist of nothing” (p.29), and that time does not exist in itself but is created through “psychic conditions”¹.
These psychic conditions are often unconscious. Jung believed our unconscious acts upon us² and viewed it as a source of meaning and symbolic guidance. The unconscious feelings often repressed by our conscious mind are, according to Jung, a tool to perceive the world we live in. We perceive meaningful coincidences when universal archetypal symbols³ are manifested, often when emotional intensity is created (surprise, fear, hope…). Thus, these apparently random events named “miracles” by many people and “synchronicities” by Jung appear when our unconscious mind is trying to make us learn something about ourselves.
This can be used by people to understand events they can’t explain. People also refer to religion to explain such events (i.e. Greek mythology⁴). This attempt at rational explanation is what Jung described with synchronicities: people seek meaning and symbolic understanding of events and the emotions they produce. Thus, the question is brought: do miracles truly exist, or only until science disproves them?
Are miracles truly possible?
Jung’s arguments are based on his experience, perception and assumptions, which might not be applicable to all. The existence of a collective unconscious can be questioned, since the interpretation of certain symbols depends on one’s cultural background and knowledge. This would make the unconscious specific and not universal and collective as he claimed. Being part of Western philosophy, Jung found Western meaning in symbols without considering indigenous or non European systems. For example, birds symbolize death in Western culture⁵, but “bringers of fertility”⁶ for the Zulu people. If symbols vary so much between cultures, Jung’s “universal archetypes” may be culturally conditioned interpretations.
Jung also argues that coincidences reveal underlying psychic structures, but this cannot be proven or disproven scientifically since it is subjective and based on perception.
When we attribute something to a miracle, we might obviate the invisible thing that truly caused said event. For instance, after a fire in a Spanish village, a woman claimed that the church wasn’t burnt to the ground thanks to the fact that she saved a statue of the Virgin Mary, but it was firefighters who did⁷.
This is how conspiracy theorists thrive: they try to explain the unknown as miracles or coincidences, but there is often a hidden cause. Whether we call them miracles or coincidences, these events reveal our human need to find meaning in the unknown. Jung’s theory of synchronicity gives a psychological explanation for this urge but doesn’t prove that miracles exist beyond subjective perception.
Conclusion
To conclude, the illusion of miracles influences our perception of reality, making us believe that events that appear as random are miracles or have an underlying psychic meaning our unconscious tries to reveal. However, it might just explain the unexplainable and unknown to humans today, becoming a way to obviate other reasons why things happen.
Footnotes:
⁰Jung, C. G. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Princeton University Press, 1973. 28-35
¹(emotions, dreams, feelings…)
²just as Sigmund Freud, but Freud viewed it as repressed instinct that can be analyzed to learn more about ourselves
³Archetypal symbols are what Jung described as universal symbols that are present in our collective unconscious, making themselves visible during synchronicities or meaningful coincidences.
⁴In Greek mythology, Zeus’ anger was used to explain thunder, which was later disproved by science. List of thunder deities - Wikipedia
⁵Even in the West, the symbol varies: freedom, love, transformation…
⁷Article on Religión Digital, written by RD/Agencias | 20.08.2025
Baudrillard, Jean. “Hyperreal and Imaginary.” Essay. In Simulations, 23–26. Semiotext(e), Foreign Agents, 1983. Submitted by Tom Gawlinski
Russel, Legacy. 2020. Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. Verso. Submitted by Ipek Usman
Mark Fisher, 2009. "It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism", submitted by Wojciech Polak
Nietzsche’s Critique of Utilitarianism by Jonny Anomaly chapter 3. Egoistic Altruism submitted by Abi van Dam
Ricard, Matthieu. 2014. “A Buddhist View of Happiness.” Journal of Law and Religion 29, no. 1 (February): 0-16 by Daria Mashkantseva
"Manifesto of Futurist Painters" (U. Boccioni and others) from "100 artists' Manifestos; from the Futurist to the Stuckiest"- Alex Danchev. Submitted by Licia Naspro
Traiger, Saul. “‘SHADOW PLAY’: Original Air Date: May 5, 1961.” In Twilight Zone Reflections: An Introduction to the Philosophical Imagination, 139–41. Lever Press, 2024. by Hasse Visser.
Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, Chapter 3 - The necessity for Propaganda (p.118-160), trans. Konrad Kellen and Jean Lerner (New York: Vintage Books, 1973), submitted by Sokratis Anastasiou
Judith Butler, “Critically Queer” (GLQ, 1993)Noor tabatabaie
File:Thien Verschoor Literature Review.pdf
Simondon, Gilbert, Cécile Malaspina, and John Rogove. “On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects.” Minneapolis, Univocal (2017). Submitted by Thien Verschoor
Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation. Translated by E. F. J. Payne. New York: Dover Publications, 1969. Submitted by Hester Sjoers.
From here to eternity written by Meryt Nefertari
The book ‘from here to eternity’ was written by Caitlin Doughty and published in 2017. In the introduction of the book Caitlin has a conversation with a man from Belize, Luciano, who said that he and his friends talk about death all the time. They ask each other about what they want when they die. This made her realise that in her (American) culture, people are often squeamish about death and do not discuss it.
The book is about the corporatisation and commercialisation of death traditions. In the chapters she writes about the rituals concerning death that are (possibly) different from our own rituals. With this perspective she hopes the raise more awareness and to let you create your own opinions about death traditions. She also wants to show that there’s no one size fits all when it comes to how we handle death.
This book intrigued me because death is something that, like most people, scares me. I wanted to know more about why we have our traditions and what other traditions are. After reading the other perspectives I realised there are many cultures that do not fear death as much as I do. She wrote ‘’the ritual involves pulling someone I loved, and thus my grief, out into the light of day.’’ (236), which I found a very comforting conclusion. On the other hand, many of the traditions she discussed are not available or legal in my country (also not in all states) which makes this possibility again more distant.
Caitlin wrote ‘’Trust me, I didn’t drag myself around the world without some serious help.’’ (237), following all the people who helped her create a factually accurate story with proper research behind it. More importantly, she went to the countries herself and asked the locals directly about their traditions and how they feel towards them. Ethically I find it important that the stories come directly from the source to avoid assumptions about cultures we are not familiar with.
In the epilogue Caitlin states ‘’With my secular bias, … This judgement was wrong.’’ (232), admitting that she looks at this subject through her own lens but also showing that she has adjusted her predictions after collecting more experience and information.
My critique on this book is mainly based on Caitlin wanting to break the norm, by critiquing the current death traditions in American culture. Saying current rituals create shame and don’t leave space for mourning. By this she brushes over the people who do want a ‘regular’ funeral and who feel satisfied with their way of handling grief. Speaking of death avoidance as a cultural failing in which she proclaims that current culture does not leave space for proper mourning. If our current form of grieving is not working then why has it not changed in the past century? And how did death get commercialised? These are the questions I was left with after reading and which I would like to learn more about.
References
Doughty, Caitlin. From Here to Eternity: Travelling the World to Find the Good Death. Norton & Company, 2017.
Literature review: The extend of the will: sexuality and asexuality in Schopenhauer’s philosophy.
In section 60 of the world as will and representation, book 2, Schopenhauer aims to bring a clearness to the affirmation and denial of the will. §60 also focusses on, the sexual impulse as the clearest expression of the will to live. This will be the main focus of this literature review. This passage in Schopenhauer was chosen because the way he talks about sexuality frames it as something bigger than desire, he talks about it being a fundamental part of the force of life itself.
Schopenhauer believes the will to be something greater than an individual it is not bound to anything; it’s the ultimate source of all. When people are aware of the will, the will either affirms itself by willing, living and desiring, or it denies itself by avoiding indulgence and turning itself away from willing. The body its actions, its instincts and its desires are the expression of the will, the body is how the will presents itself in people, hence why Schopenhauer says that “Therefore instead of affirmation of the will, we can also say affirmation of the body.”.1
Schopenhauer states in his text that the satisfaction of the sexual impulse is bigger than the affirmation of the existence of an individual. As it affirms life for a period of time after the passing of an individual. With this he is saying that the saying that the sexual impulse is not about an individual’s personal desire and/or satisfaction, it is about procreation, about securing our species.
“Because the inner being of nature, the will-to-live, expresses itself most strongly in the sexual impulse”2, Schopenhauer says that nature is only concerned with the preservation of species, not the individual. But to what extent would this apply to individuals who experience asexuality. Schopenhauer puts a big emphasis on how the will-to-live most strongly expresses itself through the sexual impulse. But in the asexual experience there is no sexual impulse no sexual desire, even when there is a will to reproduce, in Schopenhauer’s view this would mean there should be a sexual impulse. Though Schopenhauer does state that through knowledge and intellect the impulses from the will can be resisted, this would require knowledge of the will and asexuality doesn’t present itself in a person as a choice, as a conscious decision to defy the will, it is a natural occurrence in an individual.
So, if according to Schopenhauer sexuality is the strongest expression of the will-to-live, would asexuality than be people denying the will. And is this denial from a point of knowledge and intellect or from nature, from a greater force that is beyond our power that drives us further. It could also be suggested that sexuality and asexuality are both expressions of the will, but in different forms and intensities.
Schopenhauer’s broader idea is that freedom and peace come from denying the will. If sexual desire/impulse exposes what is the wills strongest and most expressed hold on people’s lives, the existence of asexuality makes it possible that the force of the will can at least in part be denied by someone’s nature. Together sexuality and asexuality show that the dominance of the will on people is not an absolute power, and that exceptions exist, and that there is a potential for freedom from the will.
1 Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Book IV, §60, 327.
2 Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Book IV, §60, 330.
Bibliography
Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation. Translated by E. F. J. Payne. New York: Dover Publications, 1969.