Artmaking as Bravery: A Virtue-Based Perspective

In this article we will reflect on the relation of art to ethics. The matter has been investigated by numerous thinkers since Plato, and a few distinct philosophical positions have been codified, ranging, as is known, from the refusal of any moral evaluation of art (autonomism) to the position that moral considerations are in fact part and parcel of any aesthetic evaluation of art (moralism). We will, however, focus on some ethical aspects of artmaking itself, not on the moral assessment of artworks and of their impact. Our considerations will be informed by the approach to ethics known as virtue ethics, which means avoiding a narrow conception of ethics, especially a legalistic one that interprets morality as compliance with rules or commandments, and returning to an Aristotelian conception of the virtues as excellent character traits expressed in action. Furthermore, we will incorporate some contributions from the emergent field of virtue aesthetics. We will discuss the role of the virtue of courage in artmaking and conclude that virtue ethics and virtue aesthetics offer a promising new perspective on art and ethics.