Ethics Finder

Pornography

There are three kinds of disputes about pornography: definitional, ethical and political. The first relates to whether the representation of sexual imagery or descriptions for aesthetic purposes, ‘erotic art’ is itself pornographic. While individual cases may be disputed it is now generally accepted that some works may be erotic without being pornographic, because of their aesthetic interest and merit. The issue of whether pornography is morally good, bad or neither involves questions about intrinsic and extrinsic value. One argument is that it is bad because it leads to the sexual abuse of human beings, another holds that whatever its further effects it is bad in and of itself because it expresses and communicates a degrading view of human beings. Defenders of pornography argue that it satisfies sexual interests. The political issue is whether if it is morally bad that justifies restricting or banning it.

Related Topics