Hello all,
I am new to philosophy and I am lost!!! I have to type a paper on “Should Art Be Ethical”, I have chose to use Music especially songs by Ozzy Osbourne, and Marilyn Manson. I have chosen to say that music is ethical in my paper, and it is the people who listen to it, or the people who say these artists songs are not ethical because their children act out after listening to this music. I need help in starting a working thesis. Any suggestions.
Well, that is a decent start isn’t it? Your paper should be a defense of that theory, right?
I have gathered so far that you are against censorship and blame the ethical problems on post hoc justification. Namely, that “Ozzy’s” music is “bad” because children act destructively(whatever that means), which is a consequential fact. That is, Ozzy’s music is bad only after children behave violently when listening to it, and not necessarily “bad” in the presence of a different set of children, or absent to any children whatsoever.
As Frank Zappa argued against Tipper Gore in the music censorship hearings, he said to her:
“Music doesn’t give someone a temporary license to behave like an asshole. They were already assholes before they heard it.”
The strong point in your argument so far could be that censoring artistic expression might be plausible, but not under these circumstances. Perhaps that it is the listeners and not the music that should be modified.
Anyway, that might be a start.
If Ozzy Osbourne is controversial, what are Whitehouse?
You know you really not supposed to make your mind up on what you’re going to conclude before you’ve actually looked into the subject. If you’ve made your mind up, you obviously have reasons for doing so, so write them in your paper as that’s wht you really think and that’s what your actually supposed to be marked on, that’s the whole point of education.
Thank you everyone for you input. Matt I have not made my mind up completely. I am not supposed to research anything in this paper, I have to type this as I go along. I was trying to find a right way to put the thesis on paper. De’trop thanks. What I am trying to say is that people try to blame the artists for the actions they take after listening to their music. And I was trying to find a way to put that in words.
Again thank you.