작품의 도덕성과 도덕적 가치 - 거트의 윤리주의 비판 -

Abstract

Can a work of art be artistically good or bad by virtue of its moral features? I critically examine Ethicism, Berys Gaut`s version of moralism, which partly claims that artwork is aesthetically defective in so much as it is morally defective. I find this is not a coherent position to maintain as it would face difficulties in handling some intuitively unfavorable cases. However, what I find more interesting is what lies behind this incoherence which stems from unclarity concerning how to judge the moral value of an artwork. It is my belief that we are not very attentive about a possible distinction between the morality of a work and the relevant sense of the moral value of the work. It is legitimate to evaluate a work in terms of moral standards, for example whether a work as a whole endorses a morally problematic point of view. This determines the morality of the work. However, I argue that this so-called point-of-view morality does not determine the moral value of the work. A work`s moral value has to do with its capacity to influence the audience in morally significant ways. In order to decide the moral value, we may have to consider the effectiveness of the moral influence and artistic choices for this goal and not merely whether it endorses a certain point of view. For example, the audience would be able to utilize the immorality of the work to reflect upon their own moral sensitivity and scope, as immoralists claim. We can also think of a moral piece of work (that has a point of view morally praiseworthy) which has no moral influence to the audience reasons being; since it is too naive, too pedantic, too predictable, etc. Therefore, utilizing consequentialist`s view on moral value, I suggest how to evaluate a work`s moral value as an artistic value, where moral and artistic evaluation is one and the same. I believe Ethicism too, in spirit, wanted to establish this but was not able to do so due to its implicit identification of a work`s point-of-view morality with its moral value.

도덕적인 예술 작품은 그 이유로 인해 예술적으로도 좋은 작품이 될 수 있을까? 또한, 비도덕적인 작품은 그 이유로 인해 예술적으로도 나쁜작품이 될 수 있을까? 예술과 도덕이라는 유서 깊고 광범위한 영역에서 다루어져야 할 질문들은 많겠지만, 두 가치 사이의 관계와 관련해서라면 아마도 이 질문이 우리가 가지고 있는 궁금증을 가장 잘 요약해 주고 있 는 것 같다. 물론 이것은 예술의 자율성, 미적 영역과 미적 가치의 고유성, 무관심성, 형식에 대한 주목 등 근대와 현대에 걸쳐 발전되어 온 미학적 개념들 및 예술 비평적 용어들과 더불어 역사적으로 형성되어 진 궁금증이다. 즉 미적 혹은 예술적 가치가 별도로 설정되고 그것이 고유하다는 인식이 형성되어야 비로소 제기될 수 있는 질문인 것이다. 그렇기에 위 질문에 대해 우리가 익숙하게 들어왔던 대답은 아니다였던 것 같다.1) 예술은 도덕적 교화와 같은 목적을 가지는 것이 아니므로 예술은 도덕과 무관하고, 따라서 예술적 가치와 도덕적 가치는 별개라는 것이다.