The Importance Of Censorship Of Art

Introduction

This essay will discuss whether or not there are any circumstances where the submission of art to censorship is justified in a liberal democracy, which advocates freedom of expression. Both sides of the argument will be considered, after which I will give my own opinion and reasoning for this opinion. Firstly, I will discuss the work and opinion of Richard Shusterman in his article “Aesthetic Censorship: Censoring Art for Art’s Sake”, a proponent for censorship under particular circumstances. Secondly I will look at the works of Mary Devereaux,

Proponents of Censorship

Richard Shusterman

In his journal article, “Aesthetic Censorship: Censoring Art for Art’s Sake”, Shusterman looks at whether there is a case for what he terms

The reason, as described by Devereaux, should be centered on the idea that artists are “geniuses” with talents of imagination which are part of them from conception, allowing artists to experience things in a different way from the people around, gifting them with “a natural capacity for originality (Devereaux, 1993). With this idea, Devereaux states her belief that, in order to argue for the “special protection” (Devereaux, 1993) of art against censorship, the argument merely needs to be made that these genius artists possess skills – as a result of natural talent combined with instruction and practice – which gives those without these gifts perspectives and views of that which those not possessing the talents are not able to see with the same amount of clarity as afforded to the artists (Devereaux, 1993). This type of genius is more relatable and paints artists in a more “modest” and “familiar” light (Devereaux, 1993). According to Devereaux, even if there are others who are able to do what these artists can, the recognition and acceptance of their talents and abilities will cement the idea that artists have special purposes within our society (Devereaux,

According to Devereaux, the “autonomy of art” would fundamentally mean that under contentious conflicts of interest between those in power and artists, the outcome should be assumed to be in support of the artist (Devereaux, 1993). This would, however, not always be an unmitigated condition (Devereaux, 1993). On this, Devereaux states that “the point of advocating autonomy is not…to grant artists absolute license, but rather to make it clear that in cases of conflict, the presumption should be in favour of the artist” (Devereaux,