Art & Censorship: Can Art be Harmful?

Year 2022, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 31 - 50, 21.07.2022

Gizem Kayahan Dal

Abstract

This paper focuses on the concepts of harm and art, and tries to answer two main questions: can art be harmful, how can it be censored? To answer these ques-tions, this paper will mainly claim that: it is not possible to completely ignore neither harms nor benefits of the art. Therefore, it is a must to censor it to elimi-nate the possible harms; but this must be made based on the knowledge of harm, art, freedom, and differences and changes of these in time and place. If censor-ship is not made right, then it would even cause more harm by violating the freedom of both artists and viewers. By doing censorship right, the harms would be limited and even vanished. Moreover, with the right censorship, art would be actually liberated. To claim so; first, this paper will introduce the definition and limits of the harm from two different views: Utilitarianism and Deontological Ethics. Second, the definition of art will be given based on three different views: art as representation, as expression, and as form. Third, the link between art and harm will be analysed to answer the question of whether art is harmful or not. Then mainly and lastly, the questions of, who decides on censorship, who can decide whether something is morally acceptable for a society or not will be an-swered.

Keywords

Art, Harm, Censorship, Freedom of Expression, Art, Harm, Censorship, Freedom of Expression

SANAT VE SANSÜR: SANAT ZARAR VEREBİLİR Mİ?

Abstract

Bu makale sanat ve zarar kavramlarına odaklanmakta ve iki ana soruyu yanıtlamaya çalışmaktadır: Sanat zararlı olabilir mi, zararlıysa nasıl sansürlenebil-ir? Bu soruları cevaplamak için, bu makale esas olarak şunu iddia edecektir: San-atın ne zararlarını ne de yararlarını tamamen göz ardı etmek mümkün değildir. Bu nedenle olası zararları ortadan kaldırmak için sansürlemek şart. Ancak bu sansür; zarar, sanat ve özgürlük olgularının zaman ve mekandaki farklılık ve değişimlerinin bilgisi temelinde yapılmalıdır. Sansür doğru yapılmazsa hem sanatçıların hem de izleyicilerin özgürlüğünü ihlal ederek daha fazla zarara yol açar. Sansürün doğru uygulanmasıyla, sanatın verebileceği zararlar sınırlanacak ve hatta ortadan kaldırılabilecektir. Üstelik, doğru sansürle sanat fiilen özgürleşecektir. Bu argümanların savunulması için ilk olarak, bu makale zararın tanımını ve sınırlarını iki farklı görüşten sunacaktır: Faydacılık ve Deontolojik Etik. İkinci olarak, sanatın tanımı üç farklı görüş temelinde verilecektir: temsil olarak sanat, ifade olarak ve biçim olarak sanat. Üçüncü olarak, sanatın zararlı olup olmadığı sorusuna cevap vermek için sanat ve zarar arasındaki bağlantı ana-liz edilecektir. Daha sonra şu sorular tartışılacaktır; sansüre kim karar verir, bir şeyin ahlaki olarak kabul edilebilir olup olmadığına kim karar verebilir?

Keywords

Sanat, Zarar, Sansür, İfade özgürlüğü, Sanat, Zarar, Sansür, İfade özgürlüğü

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