Example historical philosophy dissertation topic 2:

Breaking free from the cave: Plato’s relevance to contemporary views of body image.

Chained in the cave, Plato’s prisoners only see that which is placed before them by the puppeteers. Nothing else can be realised or believed. Such is the level of control that when one of the prisoners eventually breaks free and returns to the cave with ‘the truth’ he is not believed. This dissertation contemporises Plato’s allegory and in so doing questions whether the lessons learnt from Plato should be applied as a ‘reality check’ against media stereotypes and the way that people should look.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Heidegger, M. (2002). The essence of truth: On Plato’s parable of the cave and the Theaetetus. (English translation of Vom Wesen der Wahrheit, 1988). London: Continuum.
• Myers, P.N. and Biocca, F.A. (1992). ‘The elastic body image: The effect of television advertising and programming on body image distortions in young women’, Journal of Communication, Vol. 42, pp. 108-133.
• Shusterman, R. (2008). Body consciousness: A philosophy of mindfulness and somaesthetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.