The Moral Value of Art and Emotion

Abstract

Against moderate moralism, the essay defends a version of moderate autonomism. It claims that works of art sometimes provoke morally inadequate emotions without preventing the understanding of the work, and that they may serve to clarify mental life. Moderate autonomism holds that the autonomous nature of works of art, as representational or fictional, permits relaxing moral commitment. Only in case of falsehood obstructing verisimilitude, may the work fail, and then, not because of provoking morally wrong responses, but as a result of displaying as truth in fiction something plainly false or incoherent in life.