Terrible Beauties
Sample Syllabus
PHIL 304: Terrible Beauties
DRAFT: Subject to Change
Wellesley College, Spring 2024
In this seminar, we will closely examine the relationship between immorality and aesthetics, especially as it arises in the arts. Are morally objectionable artworks made aesthetically worse by their moral defects? Is it morally permissible to enjoy the work of artists who have done terrible things? How should we respond to the perceived immorality we might encounter in the arts, whether we are fans or critics? Cases may include museum art, documentary work, film and television, video games, etc.
Readings:
1. Intro
Marcia Muelder Eaton, "Integrating the Aesthetic and the Moral"
Further Reading:
Erich Hatala Matthes, "Paul Gauguin's Manao Tupapau (Spirit of the Dead Watching) (1892)"
2. Background: Autonomism, Ethicism, Moralism
Noel Carroll, "Moderate Moralism"
Berys Gaut, "The Ethical Criticism of Art
3. Immoralism 1: Rough Heroes
A.W. Eaton, "Robust Immoralism"
Panos Paris, "The ‘Moralism’ in Immoralism: A Critique of Immoralism in Aesthetics"
Further Reading:
Adriana Clavel-Vázquez, "Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice: What Rough Heroines Tell Us about Imaginative Resistance"
4. Immoralism 2: Transgression
Zhen Li, "Immorality and Transgressive Art: An Argument for Immoralism in the Philosophy of Art"
Connor Kianpour, "Strong Comic Immoralism"
Further Reading:
Luvell Anderson, "Racist Humor"
5. Immoralism 3: Hopeless or Obvious?
Moonyoung Song, "The Nature of the Interaction Between Moral and Aesthetic Value"
Nils-Hennes Stear, "Immoralism is Obviously True: Towards Progress on the Ethical Question"
6. Immoral Imaginings 1: Passive
Ian Stoner, "Barbarous Spectacle and General Massacre: A Defence of Gory Fictions"
Adriana Clavel-Vázquez, "The Diversity of Intrinsic Ethical Flaws in Fiction"
Annie Nichol, "The True Harm of True Crime" in The New York Times
Further Reading:
Cynthia Freeland, "The Slasher's Blood Lust"
7. Immoral Imaginings 2: Interactive
Christopher Bartel, Chs. 4 and 5 from Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy: Killing Time
Nele Van de Mosselaer, "Imaginative Desires and Interactive Fiction: On Wanting to Shoot Fictional Zombies"
8. Immoral Imaginings 3: Systemic
Robin Zheng and Nils-Hennes Stear, "Imagining in Oppressive Contexts, or What’s Wrong with Blackface?"
Further Reading:
Adriana Clavel-Vázquez, "Art and Ethico-Political Value"
9. Responding to Immoral Art/Artists 1: Origins and Audiences
James Harold "Ch 3. Wicked Artists" from Dangerous Art
Francey Russell, "What it Means to Watch" in The Boston Review
10. Responding to Immoral Art/Artists 2: Dealbreakers
Paul C. Taylor, "Understanding (mis)understanding: Sally be a lamb"
Ian Stoner, "Dealbreakers and the Work of Immoral Artists"
11. Responding to Immoral Art/Artists 3: Cancellation
Mary Beth Willard, Ch. 5 from Why It's OK to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists
Erich Hatala Matthes. Ch 3. from Drawing the Line: What to Do with the Work of Immoral Artists from Museums to the Movies