A Tripartite Theory of the Nature of Dark Creativity

This article presents a tripartite theory of the nature of dark creativity. It argues that there are three kinds of dark creativity that tend to be conflated but that have different ethical bases. The first part of the tripartite theory is based on the deontic notion of a universal system of principled ethics, which makes it possible to label creativity as dark without regard to when or where it takes place. The second part is one of sociocultural principles of ethics, where different systems of ethics (consequentialism, social-contract ethics, virtue ethics, care ethics) lead to different sociocultural views of what constitutes light or dark creativity, depending on one’s ethical principles. The third part is one in which there are no general principles, but rather one based on individual labeling views of ethics, which vary widely across individuals. On this view, dark creativity is in the eye of the beholder. Although the three kinds of dark creativity in the tripartite theory form a unified framework for levels of ethical violation in dark creativity, they each have different properties and implications, which are explored in the article.