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Art in Service of the State: New Sketch of a State Arts Program

  • Lukas James Myers ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 18, 2025

Abstract

In the 80s and 90s political liberals debated whether it is legitimate for a state to fund the arts on the grounds that art is a public good. The public goods model is only one way in which the state might justify funding for the arts. Indeed, throughout history, liberal societies have employed artists on behalf of the state and for the benefit of the state. In this paper, I argue that it is, in principle, permissible for the state to fund the arts for the good such funding can provide the state. I sketch a state arts program which has the purpose of producing pro-state art, art which helps to legitimize the state. The state is permitted to do this in order to execute its duty of stability. I defend the permissibility of such a program against the claim that it would be objectionably propagandistic or that it would be too easy to abuse such a program for nefarious means.


Corresponding author: Lukas James Myers, Madison Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, 216 Schley Pass, Madison, WI, 53703, USA, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Harry Brighouse and Jimmy Goodrich, as well as the attendees of my talk at Central APA New Orleans.

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Received: 2024-09-17
Accepted: 2025-03-04
Published Online: 2025-04-18

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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