4 10 14 Objection 1 Gaut s response act Objection 2 Gaut s response Manifested attitudes Artworks cannot be evaluated according to the moral attitudes they manifest because these attitudes are directed only towards fictional imagined characters and events that could not be harmed or hurt a Not all artworks are fiction b We do and should morally praise blame people even for what they merely imagine c Usually what we merely imagine or desire has important implications for the way we usually The moral value of artworks is relevant but in contrast to ethicism Gaut s view it adds to rather than detracts from the works aesthetic value Morally bad characters morally bad attitudes work is morally bad Only the attitudes that the work manifests indicates if it is morally good bad The manifested attitudes are the responses that the work prescribes in us Merited To merit something to deserve it Merited response a response that is deserved justified An appropriate response a response that the audience is adopting a response that the audience has a good reason to adopt Unmerited response An inappropriate response a response that the audience is not justified in having a response that the audience has a good reason not to adopt A work that prescribes an unmerited response i e a response that we have a reason not to adopt always fails aesthetically artistically it fails to justify deserve an aim that is internal to it as a work of art An immoral response eg admiration for Hitler is always unmerited because we always have a reason not to adopt them inappropriate Merited response a response an artwork prescribes that we are justified in having that we have a reason to have Unmerited response prescribes a response we are not justified in having or have a reason NOT to adopt ALL unmerited responses entail an aesthetic defect b c works that prescribe unmerited responses fail to justify the response they aim to create in us Just as a non funny comedy has an internal aestetic defect so every work that prescribes an immoral response has an aestetic defect The reason is internal to the work itself it fails us a reason to laugh The reason not to adopt an immoral response is external to the work Merited Response Argument 1 All unmerited prescribed responses entail and aestethic defect b c the works that prescribe 2 All prescribed immoral responses are unmerited b c we never have a reason are never justified them fail to justify their intended aim in adopting these responses Conclusion To the extent that an artwork has a moral defect i e to the extent that it prescribes an immoral response it has an aesthetic defect To the extent that an artwork has a moral merit i e it prescribes a moral response it has an aesthetic merit Anne Eaton Robust Immoralism Main argument A certain kind of moral defect in art the one embedded in the genre of the Rough Hero is able to add to its aesthetic value Artworks as proper objects of moral judgements How can we attribute a moral judgement or a moral attitude to an artwork an inanimate object Agrees with Gaut that it is not simply the content or representation of events characters that makes it moral or immoral it must take a certain attitude or adopt a certain perspective about the events characters and prescribe a moral response by the audience By virtue of its perspective which is the work s evaluative attitude towards some of its represented elements Such a perspectibe is manifested by the work s way of directing its audience to adopt the same attitudes 282 In other words a work is a proper object of moral judgement in terms of what Gaut calls prescribed responses Two ways in which moral judgement applies to artworks Intrinsic A moral judgement prompted by the work In this case a failure to respond to the work with the moral judgement or attitude it prescribes is a failure to understand the work Ex Picasso s Guernica and Lolita Extrinsic a moral judgement that the work itself does not prescribe ex Rape of Europa does not take a moral stance on the rape of Europa The Relevant Kind of Moral Flaw in Art Eaton s argument focuses on the genre of the Rough Hero a representation of a morally flawed protagonist whose flaws are central to his character and are not outweighed by redeeming virtues In spite of the flaw the character is nonetheless likeable sympathetic and or charming Prescribed Attitudes Works belonging to the genre prescribe a double or mized response on the one hand they prescribe an intrinsic moral judgment they prescribe that we morally condemn the protagonist But on the other hand they prescribe a sympathetic and liking engagement with him or her Former moralist s assessment of this genre According to Eaton moralists like Gaut hold that the works belonging to this genre are morally flawed and to that extent aesthetically defective In contrast Eaton argues that the moral flaws of this genre constitute an aesthetic achievement Perhaps Gaut would claim that those works prescribe multilevel response such that a prescribed higher order level response the moral condemnation encourages us to review and perhaps criticize or challenge the lower level response our sympathetic engagement with the hero Main Argument The relevant kind of moral defect is aesthetic merit because of three reasons The aesthetic achievement of the rough hero genre is based on the artistry of the work needed to overcome imaginative resistance that is our reluctance to sympathize and like morally condemnable characters It elicits or merits a certain kind of response our being captivated by the struggle between oour resistance and our sympathy This captivation sustained by our struggle and ambivalence is an aesthetic achievement for all artworks as artworks aim to be engaging and captivating It solves an interesting artistic problem i e how to overcome our imaginative resistance This is an aesthetically worthy problem to solve since its solution generates a compelling work Quiz history only shows what happened poetry shows what could happen allows us to better understand how to act in the world History is particular only specific events poetry is universal and can teach us much more about the world Pro tanto means to the extent that ethicism claims that an moral defect is to that extent an aesthetic defect but being protant localizes this defect to only one defect but still at least one defect to the work of art Arefinement of the emotions allowing us to have balance of the emotions of pity and