Skip to main content

Abstract

Philosophers have made important contributions to the debate over pornography’s ethical status and permissibility from various perspectives, ranging from legal theory to philosophy of language.1 In this debate, the aesthetician’s perspective is noticeably absent.2 At the same time, although aestheticians have debated about pornography a great deal, they have primarily focused on the artistic status and the aesthetic value of pornography.3 In this chapter, we bring the aesthetician’s perspective to the most recent round of the debate over pornography’s ethical status and permissibility.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Blackburn, S. (2004) Lust. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busselle, R. and H. Bilandzic (2008) ‘Fictionality and Perceived Realism in Experiencing Stories: A Model of Narrative Comprehension and Engagement’, Communication Theory, 18: 255–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooke, B. (2012) ‘On the Ethical Distinction between Art and Pornography’ in H. Maes and J. Levinson (eds), Art and Pornography. New York: Oxford University Press: 229–53.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, G. (2004) ‘Genre’, in Arts and Minds. New York: Oxford University Press: 43–62.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • D’Arms, J. and D. Jacobson (2000) ‘The Moralistic Fallacy: On the “Appropriateness” of Emotions’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 61(1): 65–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, A.W. (2007) A Sensible Antiporn Feminism’, Ethics 117: 674–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, A.W. (2008) A Reply to Critics’, Symposia on Gender, Race, and Philosophy 4(2): 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friend, S. (2008) ‘Imagining Fact and Fiction’, in K. Stock and K. Thomsen-Jones (eds), New Waves in Aesthetics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan: 150–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friend, S. (2011) ‘Fictive Utterance and Imagining II’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 85: 163–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friend, S. (2012) ‘Fiction as a Genre’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 112(2): 179–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gendler, T.S. (2000) ‘The Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance’, The Journal of Philosophy 97(2): 55–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giovannelli, A. (2007) ‘The Ethical Criticism of Art: A New Mapping of the Territory’, Philosophia 35: 117–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, A. (1977) ‘Plain Sex’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 6(3): 267–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, K. (1998) ‘How Bad Can Good Art Be?’, in J. Levinson (ed.), Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays at the Intersection. New York: Cambridge University Press: 204–26.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Harold, J. (2007) ‘The Ethics of Non-realist Fiction: Morality’s Catch-22’, Philosophia 35: 145–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, D. (1996) ‘Sir Philip Sidney’s Dilemma: On the Ethical Function of Narrative Art’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 54(4): 327–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, D. (1997) ‘In Praise of Immoral Art’, Philosophical Topics 25(1): 155–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kieran, M. (2001) ‘Pornographic Art’, Philosophy and Literature 25: 31–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laetz, B. and D.M. Lopes (2008) ‘Genre’, in P. Livingston and C. Plantinga (eds), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film. New York: Routledge: 152–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lance, M. and M.O. Little (2004) ‘Defeasibility and the Normative Grasp of Context’, Erkenntnis 61: 435–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lance, M. and M.O. Little (2005) ‘Particularism and Antitheory’, in D. Copp (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory. New York: Oxford University Press: 567–94.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lance, M. and M.O. Little (2006) ‘Defending Moral Particularism’, in J. Dreier (ed.), Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory. Maiden, MA: Blackwell: 305–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langton, R. (1990) ‘Whose Right? Ronald Dworkin, Women, and Pornographers’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 19(4): 311–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langton, R. (1993) ‘Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 22(4): 293–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langton, R. (2008) ‘Comments on A.W. Eaton’s “A Sensible Antiporn Feminism”’, Symposia on Gender, Race, and Philosophy 4(2): 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langton, R. and C. West (1999) ‘Scorekeeping in a Pornographic Language Game’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 77(3): 303–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leibowitz, F. (1990) A Note on Feminist Theories of Representation: Questions Concerning the Autonomy of Art’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 48(4): 361–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, J. (2005) ‘Erotic Art and Pornographic Pictures’, Philosophy and Literature 29: 228–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liao, S. (2011) ‘On Morals, Fictions, and Genres’. PhD dissertation, University of Michigan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liao, S. (2013) ‘Moral Persuasion and the Diversity of Fictions’, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 94(2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Liao, S. and T.S. Gendler (2011) ‘Pretense and Imagination’, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 2(1): 79–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston, P. (2009) ‘Narrativity and Knowledge’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 67(1): 25–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, C. (1987) ‘Francis Biddle’s Sister: Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech’, in Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: 163–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maes, H. (2011) ‘Drawing the Line: Art versus Pornography’, Philosophy Compass 6(6): 385–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, S. (2003) ‘Sex in the Head’, Journal o f Applied Philosophy 20: 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mullin, A. (2004) ‘Moral Defects, Aesthetic Defects, and the Imagination’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62(3): 249–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, T. (1969) ‘Sexual Perversion’, The Journal of Philosophy 66(1): 5–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M.C. (1990) Love’s Knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M.C. (1995) ‘Objectification’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 24: 249–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, J.A. (1978) ‘Sexual Desire’, The Journal of Philosophy 75(4): 175–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R.C. (1974) ‘Sexual Paradigms’, The Journal of Philosophy 71(10): 336–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock, K. (2012) ‘Pornography and Imagining about Oneself’, in H. Maes and J. Levinson (eds), Art and Pornography. New York: Oxford University Press: 116–36.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Vadas, M. (1987) ‘A First Look at the Pornography/Civil Rights Ordinance: Could Pornography Be the Subordination of Women?’, Journal of Philosophy 84(9): 487–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vadas, M. (2005) ‘The Manufacture-for-use of Pornography and Women’s Inequality’, The Journal of Political Philosophy 13(2): 174–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walton, K.L. (1970) ‘Categories of Art’, Philosophical Review 79(3): 334–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walton, K.L. (1990) Mimesis as Make-believe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, L. (2010) ‘Pornography’, Philosophy Compass 5(7): 535–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West, C. (2008) ‘Pornography and Censorship’, in E.N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Tall 2008 Edition). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/pornography-censorship/.

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2013 Shen-yi Liao and Sara Protasi

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Liao, Sy., Protasi, S. (2013). The Fictional Character of Pornography. In: Maes, H. (eds) Pornographic Art and the Aesthetics of Pornography. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137367938_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics