The Research is Coming To a Conclusion!

3 Minute Presentation — Tvisha Hariharan

Context: 

Nature v Nurture is a well known genetic and psychological topic, describing the see-saw between how nature impacts us versus nurture. From the impact of nurture, our values, beliefs, personality, and who we are as a person are shaped by our eternal factors, like literature. Literature is a large apparatus for learning. What we read and what we are exposed to change the way we perceive certain subjects. That is why literature provides an unparalleled measurement for societal values. In this research project, the goal is to draw a line, a connection, between the literature's landscape to the uncharted course of human desires. “Understanding desires requires at least two things: first, to have a theory of desire itself, and second, to have some familiarity with the varieties of desires that there are. Once acquired, an understanding of desire can illuminate a number of controversies surrounding desire.” - Tim Schroeder. Thorough understanding the types of theories of desire and applying them to literary, it gives us an understanding of how frequently we see desire in a certain light, through one theory or another.

Gap:

The philosophy of Desire has been an extremely desolate topic in terms of researchers interest, making the gap of this project quite wide. The extent of observations of desire are limited to ‘real life’ situations and observation as seen with Schroders research on the variations of desire. Thus this research provides a new perspective, how theories of desire are depicted in literature. To narrow this scope to allow for ample time to research I have limited my research to theory observation through literary analysis for 10 books by Haruki Murakami. By understanding how desire is depicted in literature, or in this case Mrakami’s books, we get insight into how we perceive desire, how literature impacts our perception of desire. 

Process: 

My methodology overall has remained consistent as my main objective is to observe which theories of desire remain most prominent throughout the novels though a process of literary analysis based on Stanford’s philosophical encyclopedia. Surprisingly enough, research has gone smoothly because Haruki’s book focuses on desires and the human impulses, allowing me multiple well defined desires through the book. However there have been a few changes, for example, my initial reading schedule changed multiple times because of the substantial reading I had committed myself to. 

Progress in data collection: 

At this point I have finished reading all 10 books and coded for each desire. However, now I have to go back into a chart and log the page number and the reasoning in order to back up why I chose to code something as, for example, action or pleasure. Once I finish login each notation and the reasoning behind it I will need to log my data into a stacked bar graph to visualize the most prominent theories throughout the book 

Roadblocks: 

I haven't faced any major roadblocks besides time. Reading 10 books and annotating them in such a small window was strenuous, but keeping a positive mind, enjoying the reading, and keeping a steady schedule provided me the perfect motivation to successfully complete data collection.

Results:

As of now I have not visualized anything because I am still in the process of going through each book and double checking the coding and the reasoning behind it in order to verify my data, however I have perceived certain trends as I finished data collection. 

The sentiment in the philosophical community regarding desire is that action based and pleasure based are the most applicable theories to everyday life. This theory was constant throughout my books, however, as I continued to endeavor through Muraksami’s literature, I came across a surprising trend of less well known theories such as attention and good base. Overall, it seems that Murakami's  literature expresses desire in a similar structure to philosophical principles in addition to also including several other theories through his writing. 

Discussion: 

My research question is: How does Haruki Murakami depict Desire Based on Stanford's Philosophical Theories Regarding Desire? The hypothesized results are most likely going to be action based and pleasure/attention based in the top 2 categories when visualization is finished. At that point, the data will provide a potential base unit to draw a connection between Stanfords well rounded philosophy of desire to literature. However, I do understand there are limitations, the biggest being my own bias. In literary analysis and my coding process I have tried my very best to limit external influences through randomization of books, extending data visualization till after collection, etc. However, there is still the coding process which may contain some bias as I am making a conclusion based on a set of definitions and examples provided by Stanford’s philosophical encyclopedia. Unfortunately, I have not been able to limit this potential roadblock, however, I hope in future studies, a larger group would be able to discuss the decisions made for each coded phrase. In the conclusion of this project, the results will present a possible answer to a depiction of desire in Murakami's books, allowing viewers to understand a small projection of how literature shapes our own views on desire through a structure given by a reputable philosophical department at Stanford. 

Conclusion: 

Do we act on our desires or do we desire something because it occupies our every thought? Or do we desire something because it is in our very nature? These questions drive for a future of literary analysis and its connection to philosophy. My hope is that this research provides a base for a wider scope of research in understanding literature's perception and its effect on our perception. This research will allow a coding process that is designed to observe what writers imply desire as, and how characters that we share our lives with deal with human impulses and desires. This structure will hopefully expand research in the connections between desire depicted in literature versus real life. Understanding what is written about desire allows us to understand how we preserve desire. That is why we should care, to understand why we are driven.