Brady, Ch 8: On the Relation of Aesthetics and Ethics

• Overall position: Aes value is both distinct from and related to ethical value
  
  
• Brady's analysis of Foster's pollution sunset example
• Aes pleasure conflicts with moral attitude toward env
• Is she reducing aes response to aes pleasure so as to make it easier to argue it is distinct from moral concerns?
  
• She's concerned mainly with cases where aes aim or consideration conflicts with our moral obligations to nature
• Direct harm to nature from human acts with aes aims
  
• Examples
• Gardening and ag practices produce flowers and other plants in aes appealing conditions use fertilizers and damage and dsrupt ecosystems
• Rather than allowing a lake to drain due to natural geo process, we preserve the natural beauty and cultural value of a lake by arresting those values (Keekok Lee's example)
• I'm not sure harm is the way to characterize the results of this human action; thwarting natural processes and undermining wildness is better language
• Human introduced exotic species can be beautiful but cause real harm
• Rhododendron ponticum: Brought to Britain from Portugal/Spain in 1763 has bright colorful flowers with strong aes applea, attracts bus tours in late spring
• Toxic to animals and plants
• https://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/P2/P27560.HTM
• https://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/rhododen.htm
• Tourists horrified when learn that policy is to eradicate this plant species


• MORALISM VERSUS AUTONOMISM (AESTHETICISM)
• Moralism
• Moral defects in art count as aesthetic defects
• Moral and aesthetic concerns can be integrated so as to be inseparable
• Carroll:
• Some works of art may be evaluated morally
• Sometimes the moral defects/merits of a work may figure in the aes evaluation of the work
• Plato: see art as having instrumental value as means to moral education
• Autonomism
• Moral defects never decrease aesthetic value (not aes defects)
• Kant: artistic value is distinct autonomous domain untouched by moral considerations
• artistic value is noninstrumental;
• Art to be app for own sake
• I don't see why moralism is committed to denying intrinsic value of aesthetic value; the view simply holds that sometimes moral considerations are relevant to aes value


• People can see the conflict aes and moral value and this seems like a good initial plausible argument for these types of value being different.
• They conflict because they have different bases
• The debate over moralism depends on one's view of how to conceive of aesthetics
• If bases properties (of aes qualities), include moral judgments/qualities/factors, then we have moralism
• If the relevant background information for aes judgments includes moral judgments, then we have moralism
  
• Reason for moralism:
• A moral stances (e.g., a concern for humans) is part of the appreciative stance we take to many aes encounters
• Our aes and moral interests so intertwined that they become inseparable
• Moral concerns (portrayal of a character) can be central to aes effect of work
• Moral considerations don't always detract from aes attention and take us outside the realm of the aesthetics, but moral interest can also increase our engagement and focus and draw us further into the narrative or content of the work
• E.g., Emotionally affected by the characters, care how their lives turn out (even if just fictional world), we are dismayed when injustice prevail; such emotional responses are what author expects and are a part of the imaginative response expected to fictional narratives and so seem inseparable from aesthetic impact
• Thus some of our aes judgements are nec bound up with moral judge
• Harry Potter example: When Snape kills Dumbledore in the latest book, the treachery and moral evil of what he does is part of the aes impact of the story: why it is so powerful
  
• What exactly is a moral defect?
• Narrative art often has moral content: bad things happen in these fictional worlds and these are crucial parts of the plots that make them interesting and enlightening
• Moral defect occurs when moral content is suspect
• E.g., Novel that takes a sympathetic attitude towards the violence against women
• Will be rejected regardless of any aesthetic merit as this sort of moral defect creates an aes defect, thus moral and aes become inseparable
• Her statement of the position here is not helpful
• When Snape kills Dumbledore that is a moral defect in Snape, not in JK Rowling's novel
• This shows only that moral concerns are part of aesthetic impact, not that a moral defect is an aesthetic one
• But this does show that the aes impact depends in part on the moral substance
• So why can't the aesthetic impact of a pollution sunset be affected by the moral substance of it?
• But if JK Rowling were to try to get us to feel sympathetic to Snape or to Valdemort, part of why that would make her novels worse is that such sympathy is morally inappropriate: This is the claim that a moral defect can be (is, in this case) an aesthetic defect.
  
• Foster argues that if we aes appreciate pollution sunset we are appreciating a destructive situation and to app a genuinely destructive situation is to approve of them
• Forster thinks we can't find pollution sunsets beautiful because to do so would be to condone life-denying qualities
• Of course one might simply say we aes approve of them but morally disapprove
• And Carlson says this involves wanting them to continue to exist or for there to be more of them
• And this does not fit with our dislike of the pollution sunset and wishing there were not more of them
  
• Brady's response to Foster
• Brady says for Foster: How could we continue to feel delight in the presence of something that is harming the env?
• Brady responds: Why is it that aes value takes responsibility in these situations?
• Morally we do feel need to suppress our enjoyment; we feel disappointed, betrayed and concerned about env. damage
• But these are moral reasons not aes ones
• Nothing has changed in the aes qualities of sunset: colors remain brilliant
• Is this a retreat to formalism; a retreat to a reductionistic, formalist view of aesthetics so as to insure moral considerations aren't relevant?
• But there are changes in the aes qualities of the sunset when it is caused by pollution; here are some:
  • The emotional response turns from one of joy, serenity, to disgust
• The expressive qualities have change: they now embody not nature's sublimity but human's carelessness
• Imagination sees the red as a metaphor for the blood of the animals that die because of the pollution
• One imagines the disgusting smell of gas bellowing out of the factory
• What has happened is that we have come to know that the cause of the beauty is harmful
• But this is a moral issue not aes one
• It makes no sense to say that we feel aes compelled to suppress our pleasure
• Brady claims that what happens in pollution sunset case is that aes value remains high, but we turn away from the scene on moral grounds and thus end the aes exp without changing our aes judgment
• Fn 65: Cases where our capacity to perceive aes qualities is blocked by strong moral objections, where one's morality anaesthetizes one to the relevant (aes?) features (Eaton's language)
• Brady says this not case of moral defect being aes defect, but rather where aes app can't get off ground due to a person's moral standpoint
• Aes attention becomes impossible because of a distraction caused by moral feeling
• But if a work of art is designed so that it evokes such a negative moral reaction that this makes aes attention to it impossible, why isn't that an aes defect? Don't artists have job of making their art accessible, capable of being aes app?
• Maybe could argue something related for nature
• Imagine a case of a movie portrayal of rape and the moral message is that women deserve this
• It is true that there might be symmetry to the movements, brilliant colors to appreciate, a bunch of formal aes qualities that could be attended to but they are blocked by moral outrage
• But the moral outrage could also be relevant to aes qualities other than formal ones; expressive, imaginative
• Some may continue to enjoy scene but with added feeling of poignancy
  • If this added feeling is aesthetics, then the moral aspects of the situation affect aes response even for Brady
• Their aes delight is accompanied by conflicting moral feeling of sympathy in face of harm
• Others will feel no conflict
• The two values separate as have different bases
  • Aes value concerned with perceptual qualities, emotional and im responses connected to them as well as meanings that come through app these qualities
    • Meaning of sunset changes with pollution; meaning of a tree/bush changes when you know it is a harmful invasive exotic
  • So aes eval restricted to perceptual, emotional and im experiential states rather than significantly cognitive ones
• Is her idea that moral considerations are cognitive? But they clearly also are emotional!
  
• Moral concerns deal with how we ought to act and treat humans and nature
• She allows that moral considerations can be part of our aes experiences and that aes considerations part of moral deliberations
• Can they be part of them, in the sense of an aes part?
• But aes and moral values dist and require judgment on own terms
• Exotic example: Can support eradication of exotic on moral grounds but not inconsistent to continue to find it aes appealing
• This seems like a powerful example in her favor


• BRADY ACCEPTS MODERATE AUTONOMISM
• Which though it says moral and aes autonomous and separate
• Allows that moral considerations sometimes come into play in aes app
• But if they come to play and are relevant, why can't they affect aes quality?
• Quoting Anderson and Dean: (I find this very unclear)
• Moral criticism of work can surround aspect of moral subject of work, moral content can contribute to or detract from aes aspects of the work
• Never the moral component of the criticism as such that diminishes the value of artwork qua artwork
• Both sorts of criticism are appro to art, but categories of moral and aes criticism are conceptually distinct
• Even if it is experientially impossible to tease apart aes and moral-they feel as one-conceptually we can maintain the dist.
• Moderate autonomism allows that moral considerations have some bearing on aes app but preserves view that aes judgements are distinct from moral ones



• AESTHETIC OFFENSES: INSENSITIVE AES ACTIONS
• This section need not be discussed in class
• Acts that are insensitive on aesthetic (not moral?) grounds
• Aes offences
• Acts of tastelessness
• Were nature has been sullied or spoiled by gratuitous human intrusions which bespeak interference, carelessness or indifference
• littering a beach, defacing cliffs by climbers, tearing up paths by mountain bikes, stripping hills for ski runs, river damming, raw sewage disposal, decimation of species
• Some of these sound like moral offenses
• Only humans can commit aes offences, nature can't do this (nor can it have its own aes view-it does not realize it is being offended)
• Brady interested in how aes offenses show lack of aes sensitivity
• Issue is manner or style of action, which can be aes matter
• Taste in fashioning one's actions: delicate, subtle, awkward, clumsy, bold, heavy-handed or graceless
• Acting considerately or thoughtlessly are moral not aes facets of action.
• Doing something in aes pleasing or unappealing way doesn't make it better or worse (morally!):
• One can kill with grace, but still wrong
• The moral story and its manner of representation (aes) can stand alone: one can fail while the other can't
• She says she is not making strong content/form dist....
• But if they can stand alone then they also may not stand alone in some cases and here moral defect can be aes defect
• Example of wind farms as a possible aesthetic offence
• Often cited in remote natural areas
• Can have a strong neg visual impact
• Destroy scenic beauty, create noise pollution thus destroying tranquility, create shadows bother nearby residents
• Positive aes side of wind farms
• Many find turbines attractive, even elegant, create a dist aes impact or more cultural, artistic kind
• Guides produced for tourists to tour wind farm sites
• Not noisy, but introduce new sounds into the landscape
• Windfarms pos case of aes offence as people think locating them in remote envs is aes insensitive
• Some env. art may commit aes offense: aes affront to nature
• Aes integrity may be related to avoiding aes offence



• Does not prioritize aes over moral value: can be strong moral reasons to override aes value, but should be careful to dist two types of value



• The Relationship between aes and ethics 254
• BRADY'S DISCUSSION OF HOW INTIMATE AES AND ETHICAL VALUES CAN BE
• Ethics is more cognitive and goal oriented than aes
• Cross over in language: sensitivity, integrity, harmony, attentiveness, appropriateness
• Axiological space not easily distinguished into aes and ethical
• Cross fertilization between the two
  
• Is Aes the Mother of Ethics? 256
• Aes and moral practices can support each other
• Aes skills contribute to developing moral sensitivity
• some argue that ethics is essentially dependent on aes
• Eaton
• to under morality and become moral person, one's act must have appro style and content and this requires aes skills
• Making an ethical decision is like choosing one story over another
• Aes skills (perceptual sensitivity, im freedom, creativity, emotional expression) can help us in our moral lives (both making decisions and in forming moral character)
• ability to locate and attend to detail, putting together and interpreting elements, awareness of particulars
• Art, specifically narratives, allow us to "take our emotions for a test drive" without obligation in our response to fictional worlds
• Moral and aes concerns derive from some common sources such as taste and delicacy of feeling
• In deciding what type of person one ought to be one is regarding one's own life as a work of art and asking how best to complete it
• Aes and moral domains are not poles apart, for both draw on our capacity for perceptual sensitivity, imagination and feeling



• AESTHETICS AS A FOUNDATION FOR ENV. ETHICS 258
• Some env. philosophers argue that aes sensitive relation to nature can engender a benevolent attitude towards it.
• Leopold is one.
• People who find beauty in nature are not inclined to harm it
• Strong feeling of attachment people develop to particular places and desire to protect them from change and development
• No nec connection between positive aes valuing and moral attitude towards nature
• Some (many?) People who are aes sensitive app of env do harm it
• Developed aes sensitivity not itself suff to support an env ethic
• She seems to be focusing on if psychologically aes sensitivity leads to ethical treatment of nature
• My concern is whether philosophically it does.
• If ethics is based on care, it might be difficult to engender care for envs one has not grown to app aes
• Even if aes engagement and shared exp help encourage a sympathetic attitude towards nature, moral constraints such as justice are probably needed as well
• Worries about "aestheticism" toward the env (i.e., the only value the env. has is aesthetic) and how this can lead to harm to the env. and is a shallow and reductive approach to the env.
• IA supports a kind of aesthetic respect for nature.