ETS 3: James Spiegel on Ethics and Art

November 20, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
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About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009). Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (569)

Dr.
Spiegel’s paper was titled “Beauty, Goodness and Evil: When is
Immorality in Art Aesthetically Warranted and Morally Justified?” The
central issue is the relationship between ethics and art. He laid out
the three potential positions: 1) asceticism- the view that art and the
artist are above morality 2) moralism- the view that art is subordinate
to ethics, that ethics is the only basis upon which art may be judged
3) ethicism- that art has moral attributes that do not necessarily
contribute to aesthetic quality. He believes ethicism is the best
option, but does not think ethicists have unpacked this view
practically. So the rest of the paper was an attempt to do this.

In
order to unpack ethicism practically, Dr. Spiegel put forth six
distinctions upon which to judge art. In each case, he gave examples
from music, movies, and books that were positive and negative.

1)      When evil is involved, is it simply a depiction or is it an endorsement?

2)      Is the depiction of evil necessary or gratuitous?

3)      Is the depiction of evil in service of a noble theme or an abominable theme?

4)      Does the art provide insight into truth or obscure truth?

5)      Does the art convey final justice and personal redemption or moral lawlessness and personal helplessness?

6)      We must be aware of the difference between the objective content of the artwork and the subjective response of the audience.

Most
of the examples worked pretty well. Dr. Spiegel said he used over 50
examples throughout the paper. Only one of them did I have a
significant disagreement with. Overall, I think this is a good grid
through which to judge the moral qualities of art. I’m not sure,
though, if it’s entirely sufficient. He’s written a few books now, the
latest came out last month: The Benefits of Providence.

Related posts:

1. ETS 2008 – James Spiegel “Free Will and Soul Making”
2. Book Review: The Benefits of Providence by James Spiegel
3. Book Review: The Making of an Atheist by James Spiegel
4. Book Review: The Love of Wisdom by Steven Cowan and James Spiegel
5. ETS 2006- James Spiegel: The Epistemic Ramifications of Behavior
6. Interview with James Spiegel

Posted in Culture, Ethics, Main Page, Philosophy, Roger's Posts