Hi everyone 
I’m completely new to this but am in desperate need of help. Everyone in my class knows exactly what they are doing for their end of degree dissertation and I’m completely clueless. My particular interests are Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, however, I also enjoy the Free Will and Determinism debate, along with Political Philosophy. I’m struggling to find specific topics inside these vast, vague subjects that I can write a 10,000 word paper on. Any specific suggestions at all will be greatly appreciated (even if not in my desired fields). Thank you in advance.
I think that free will is quite worthy of investing 10,000 words and it is not much difficult either, given that it is discussed that extensively.
with love,
sanjay
Sometimes broad [vague] can be the most intriguing.
True story:
Philosophy 101. Dr. Gordon Pond, instructor. For our final exam he wrote the word WHY? on the chalkboard.
I handed in my little blue exam booklet:
1] Why Not?
2] Because.
Got an A.
Of course he did like me.
Anyway, the broadest, vaguest, most intriguing philosophical question I still fall back on is this one: How ought I to live? Either that or, if you are a nihilist, Why ought I to live.
That explains a lot.
I know: Let’s start a new thread and explore that. 
You are “new at this” and are writing a dissertation??? Or do you mean, “Thesis”?
The subjects that you mentioned are very old and tired (and frankly, simply moronic). I can think of probably a dozen topics worthy of a dissertation, but it seems they would all be beyond your reach.
If you can’t see the connections, never mind.
War and Peace: Relativity and Absolutism?
Ontological Conflation or Right and Wrong?
Presumption, the Seed of Sin?
Religion, Philosophy Applied?
Solipsism, Map or Terrain?
Governing Versus Usurping?
Good and Evil? Or It’s All Good?
The Consequences of a Grand Unified Theory
Affect Upon Affect
The End of History
The Art of Persuasion
Reason for Reason
Cause or Random
Three Angels of Truth
Words or Their Meanings?
Spelling The Mind
The Illusion of Choice
Quantum Mysticism
Clarity and Obfuscation
In Sight of Blindness
Time: A Beginning that Never Began
Anentropy
Perception of Hope and Threat
.
.
.
Talk about how art takes an ideal and through some practical exercise, (the act of creating the art), turns it into something that’s more palatable to the viewer, and make a parallel with politics explaining how politicians try and legislate ideals in the same sort of way. Point out to the reader that there is a degree of free will in each of these tasks, but that to the extent that they must be grounded, either in paint on canvas, or through enacting legislation, they are limited as there are less possibilities in the act of applying paint, or enacting legislation than there are in envisioning an ideal perfectly represented on canvas or a law that creates an ideal society. The practical considerations that a painter or a politician must deal with are such that they are limited in their expression of their ideals.
So the artist is free to create his ideal, and the politician his ideal society, but then they’re both stripped of some of this free will when it comes time to deal with the realities of paint and human nature.
You should then go on to talk about how certain abstractions are universally applicable, and get all logic-y with it. Start explaining how no matter what the context, that there is some freedom, and some things determined.
You’re writing a dissertation? Like for a PhD?
You’re gonna want to be specific. You can’t just give a canned exposition of the problem of free will and how it effects aesthetics and politics. You’d be better off to start with something more techincal.
Oh my Gosh, thank you SO much everyone. I can’t even explain how much you’ve helped me!
And James S Saint, I’m new to the whole forum thing, I’ve been doing philosophy a while those subjects have opened up so much to me, honestly, thank you.
Thank you mr reasonable, you’ve practically given me a plan for my paper and no, the dissertation is simply for a Bachelor’s Degree.
That was my thought sanjay, thank you I just hope I could pull it off
I’ll do the paper for 500 bucks.
Also, you might throw in some stuff about what makes a good artist or a good politician has to do with the extent to which they can utilize their freedom to express their ideals. Think of 2 artists, one says, “dude you can’t paint that” and the other proceeds to do just that. The first one isn’t as good an artist because he’s not just bound by the determinism of what you can do with paint and canvas, he’s actually bound by his own belief that the limits are more than they actually are, which is then demonstrated by the better, more effective artist when he shows that what the 1st guy thought impossible can actually be done.