Tools: MacBook Pro, iMovie, GarageBand
Description: Short video that embraces limited fidelity to explore ideas of atmosphere, light, and absence. Music made in 2006 as part of experimental music project Gorgeous Bulbous.
Tools: iPhone, Photoshop
Description: Series of photos taken with iPhone camera of empty spaces. The limited resolution of the camera was embraced as a useful constraining factor.
Abstract: An examination of the work of two influential contemporary American political thinkers, William Connolly, a political theorist, and Richard Rorty, a philosopher, both of whom are proponents of what can be viewed as "postmodern" versions of liberal democracy. Although precisely what counts as postmodernism is a matter of dispute, what the two thinkers have in common here is a rejection of the kind of foundational philosophical project that characterizes earlier "modern" approaches to justifying liberal democratic institutions and practices that one encounters in many thinkers of the Enlightenment.
“Chad is an unusually bright, thoughtful, and hardworking student whose work on his Division III project has been excellent throughout the process. He has strong analytical and critical skills, and his work demonstrates considerable intellectual effort and engagement regarding the material he explores. His writing is exceptionally clear, and well organized and well argued. He is a perceptive and careful reader of texts, and his analyses and arguments show a very high level of understanding and reflection regarding the thinkers and issues he explores. Over the course of the project, Chad was very good about meeting deadlines and responding to criticisms and suggestions from his committee. In his oral exam, he responded to questions and comments very well. The committee is very pleased with Chad's excellent work on the project.”
—Ernie Alleva, thesis committee chairperson
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