Allister Lee

The contemporary subject is occupied by a profound paradox where the technology advertised as a cure to loneliness has become a force that alienates one from the existential need to belong to a community. Drawing on the works of Simone Weil and Byung-Chul Han, this short essay critically sketches out how digitalisation simultaneously undermines the conditions to experience belonging and togetherness in order to explain alienation of the contemporary subject, and how it develops into a new digital form of solipsism that obstructs community formation.

This article argues that nostalgia, understood properly, functions as an orientation through which one engages with aesthetic experiences, and in turn, our own existence. Beginning with Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000) as an artistic example and by drawing on Svetlana Boym’s distinction between ‘reflective’ and ‘restorative’ nostalgia, it observes that reflective nostalgia can serve as a hermeneutical lens that transforms absence into aesthetic possibility. This challenges us to creatively engage with fragmented memory and its accompanying affective burdens. Subsequently, the article critically examines Mark Fisher’s application of hauntology in cultural production, suggesting that today’s creative landscape is trapped in a metastatic cycle of self-referentiality that paradoxically moves rapidly while remaining static, what the author terms ‘the eternalisation of present’, linking our crisis of beauty to the contemporaneous crisis of temporality. Finally, the article proposes an alternative mode of aesthetic engagement found in Walter Benjamin’s character of the flaneur, whose meditative, purposeless meandering resists the homogenisation of culture and the acceleration of solipsistic reproduction of artwork by engaging deeply with fragmented historical images that disclose to us a salvific path forward.

Despite extensive scholarly attention, the meaning of 'gender' remains contested. This dissertation advances a phenomenological Thomistic account, positing gender as the self-aware relationship between the phenomenal 'I' and its living body that is characterised by a dynamism between biological sex, the rational soul, and socio-cultural contexts. Critiquing gender essentialism and social constructivism as products of dualistic and monistic anthropologies, I argue that Edith Stein's concept of Entfaltung (unfolding) reveals gender to be an experience unique to the human person as embodied spirit, lived in tension with internal and external otherness. By synthesising Stein's phenomenology and W. Norris Clarke's metaphysics of personhood, I demonstrate how gender expression transcends solipsism, requiring engagement with intersubjective horizons. This framework not only counters Judith Butler's performative model but also offers bioethical insights for addressing gender dysphoria, advocating a relational understanding of identity rooted in MacIntyre's ethics of dependence.

This essay examines the transformation of aesthetics from a philosophical exploration of beauty into a consumer-driven obsession with "style" in contemporary culture, particularly in the digital space. Drawing on Kant's theory of disinterested aesthetic appreciation, it highlights the intellectual and moral value of experiencing pure beauty, which fosters universal harmony and character development. In contrast, the essay critiques the superficiality of modern aesthetic trends, driven by consumerism and self-expression, which often result in identity burnout. Ultimately, it advocates for reconnecting with authentic beauty and art as a means to transcend materialism and rediscover shared humanity.

This paper looks at the ethics of opt-in vs. opt-out of organ donation as Scotland has transitioned its systems to promote greater organ availability. We first analyse studies that compare the donation rates in other regions due to such a system switch and find that organ increase is inconclusive and modest at best. This is due to a lack of explicit opt-out choices resulting in greater resistance and family override unless there are infrastructures and greater awareness to support such change. The paper then looks at the difference between informed consent of the opt-in vs. presumed consent in the opt-out approaches. Patient autonomy and dignity are better reflected with informed consent. Eighteen months have passed since the new organ donation policy has come into effect, this paper recommends more research into organ donors’ psychological motivations to help governments and the healthcare profession obtain more organs for transplantation.