Art, Domination and Antipower: A critical republican perspective on art’s capacity to harm (and to liberate)
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2023-06-23
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en
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On the one hand, freedom of artistic expression is vital to a free and equal society. On the other
hand, some artworks are argued to be harmful to society. This thesis aims to provide a basis for
finding a solution to this paradox, by developing an answer to the question: how can art
constitute harm? Assuming that not all forms of art are necessarily bad, this thesis develops an
account of harm in terms of domination, based on a critical republican theoretical framework. In
this thesis, art is understood as speech. Therefore, speech act theories are employed to show the
mechanisms by which speech can constitute domination, which are then applied to art. Drawing
from critical republicanism, this thesis argues that if art constitutes domination, we have a moral
duty as a society to promote ‘antipower’ against such harm. Central to this antipower is critical
civility, characterized by vigilance and recognition. This thesis suggests that by broadening the
freedom of speech of dominated individuals, domination-constituting art can be counteracted
without the need for censorship.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen