Artists and Morality: Toward an Ethics of Art

The author distinguishes and explores a number of moral questions raised by the social influence of artistic activity. He begins by claiming that the moral discussion of art actually centres around two distinct but related axes. The first involves the moral judgment of the art object itself and raises empirical and philosophical questions. The second, less often pondered but no less puzzling, concerns moral issues that center around the artist as an individual. The author therefore proceeds to identify three distinguishable types of moral demand that may be placed on artists: first, demands that are held to apply to everyone as a moral being and, therefore, apply equally to artists; second, demands that apply particularly but not exclusively to artists as socal participants, with certain significant controls and influence; and third, those that apply uniquely to artists, since these demands derive from the peculiar character of the tasks and powers of artists. The principal intent of this paper is to pursue and illuminate these types of moral demand, particularly the third, and to examine their interrelationships.