Conservation and the Ethics of Unintentional Forgery

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper introduces the distinction between conservation outputs and outcomes to frame thinking about conservation ethics, decision-making and practice. It proposes that prescriptive ethical principles or their narrow interpretation do not necessarily deliver outputs that meet desired conservation outcomes such as ‘authenticity’. It draws analogies between philosophical definitions of art forgery, conservation case studies and cases of known forgeries, to debate whether heritage conservation could be construed as a ‘forger’s art’ and, despite the contradiction of terms, conservation ethics as an ethics of forgery. Viewed from the perspective of output-outcome inconsistencies, the paper argues there are four potential types of unintentional conservation forgery. It proposes that effective mitigations of this risk reside in the broader interpretation of conservation concepts drawing from metaphysics and other branches of philosophy, and a shift to more outcomes-based conservation ethics. The paper concludes with initial reflections on what a more outcomes-based conservation ethics might look like and the opportunities that such a shift would present to the field.