Abstract

This image represents the connections between the content and the process of my research. The topic of my research is alienation. In my dissertation I give an account of alienation that can encompass a variety of different philosophers' accounts of that phenomenon. The reading involved in research can frequently make me feel that my own contributions are buried beneath and insubstantial compared to other earlier work. In addition, this research is conducted in the context of graduate education at this university, where low pay and insufficient medical insurance has led me to chronic financial precarity, which has, in turn, caused mental health issues. My own research is frequently also buried beneath the effects of these serious and unnecessary burdens which are added to the already considerable challenges of graduate research, burdens that weigh on me significantly and that affect many graduate students even more than they do myself. These burdens regularly give me occasion to reflect on the alienated nature of my employment here and of my own research into alienation.