PHIL 23.01 Ethics and the Arts
From novels, films, and television to painting, sculpture, and symphonies, the influence of art on our character, our values, and how we see the world is pervasive. This raises a number of important philosophical questions at the intersection of ethics and the philosophy of art. Do both moral properties like goodness and aesthetic properties like beauty exist only "in the eye of the beholder", or are one or both of them more objective? Can we learn things about what is good and right, or how to be better people from reading great literature or seeing important paintings? How might the moral character of a work of art affect its aesthetic merit? Is Birth of a Nation, for example, a worse film because of its racism?
Instructor
Walden
Prerequisite
One Philosophy course, or permission of the instructor.