#1276 Daisy Dixon - Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art
RECORDED ON JUNE 29th 2026.
Dr. Daisy Dixon is a philosopher of art and an artist, and a Lecturer in Philosophy at Cardiff University. Her research falls at the intersection of philosophy of art, philosophy of language, and political philosophy. She explores how visual art behaves like speech, and how curators and interpreters can affect what an artwork communicates to its audience. She is the author of Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art.
In this episode, we focus on Depraved. We start by discussing what the ethics of art is, and what “depravity” means. We talk about whether artworks themselves can be depraved, and the intentions of artists. We talk about sex, nudity, “obscenity”, and pornography. We discuss whether art can cause crime, and whether it can contribute to propaganda for oppressive regimes. Finally, we discuss whether we should separate the art from the artist, whether censorship works, and whether there should be absolute freedom of artistic expression.
Time Links:
Intro
The ethics of art
What is “depravity”?
Can artworks themselves be depraved?
Should consumers know more about the artists?
Sex, nudity, “obscenity”, and pornography
Can art cause crime?
Can art contribute to propaganda for oppressive regimes?
Should we separate the art from the artist?
Should there be absolute freedom of artistic expression?
Follow Dr. Dixon’s work!
Follow Dr. Dixon’s work:
Our first interview: https://youtu.be/CLsfD_T4Yrk
Website: https://bit.ly/3HTCNuo
PhilPeople profile: https://bit.ly/3K91WUB
Depraved: https://tinyurl.com/4cyzza2a
Twitter handle: @daisyldixon