Ethics and Issues Response

In reading Chonko's "Ethical Theories," it is evident that there is a primary focus on protecting the welfare of the everyday citizen, and pursuing actions that are fair, just, and good. Questioning whether something is fair or good involves considering whether the action infringes upon their rights, and whether something causes the least amount of harm possible. When applied to the ideas presented in the "Appropriation and Attribution" piece, ethical reasoning comes most into play where a person's property is concerned, even when it is intellectual. This piece calls on the reader to pay attention to how they go about utilizing and borrowing artwork, musical tracks, ideas, and so on. The author encourages considering the work that the original artist has put in to create their own original work, and having the duty to reference this artist's work if influenced by it in the reader's own work. To utilize the work in a way that would allow the original artist his greatest rights, and do him the least amount of harm / do what is fair and just and good, the reader has the duty of giving credit where credit is due, and viewing this use from an ethical standpoint. As argued in "Digital Appropriation as Photographic Practice and Theory," we live in a world where we are surrounded by millions of images through the Internet, and in this way, are constantly influenced by the work of others. With this in mind, it is most ethical to learn from the technical strategies of how the image is taken (i.e. framing, depth of field) and employ these strategies in the creation of your own, original imagery, rather than copying the artist's meaning and visual display and claiming these ideas as one's own. What I am wondering is: what if a person learns from the visual techniques of a certain artist, and later creates their own line of artwork employing similar techniques. Should the original artist still be actively cited and referenced? Wouldn't the person have to reference this artist for the rest of their life, as they gained intellectual knowledge from their work that they may use in all of their own original works?