We are moved by the endless academic enthusiasm of China's aesthetics in the past century, and we are also admired by the theorists who persistently trudge on the "non-circulation" of aesthetics: since Wang Guowei and Liang Qichao set foot on Chinese and western cultures and tried to start the modern academic process of China's aesthetics, China's aesthetics suddenly adopted modern European ideas and theories in the past century, trying to pursue western science, whether it is "western learning" or "western learning". In the academic experience of China's aesthetics in the 20th century, "the West" and its understanding have always been the main theoretical resources in the ideal vision of China aestheticians, and have also become the important knowledge background for China's aesthetic research to construct its own modernity. At the same time, China's aesthetics in the 20th century closely inherited the long spiritual purport and traditional ideological material of the native Chinese culture, and in the process of pursuing the ideological heritage and theoretical connotation of sages, it clearly marked the belief of "aesthetic China" and the academic construction intention of theoretical modernity. The expectation of national rejuvenation, the strong desire for social and cultural reconstruction, the loud call for people's conscious consciousness, and the realistic design of people's free and happy life ... all of these have clearly penetrated into various concrete and subtle academic efforts of China's aesthetics in the past century, inspiring several generations of China aestheticians to roam passionately in the aesthetic sky of the 20th century, trying to rationally structure and guide the new life transformation and life hope of China culture and China people with the help of aesthetics. In the 20th century, China aestheticians lingered on the metaphysical road of aesthetics all their lives. Great theoretical passion deduces the blueprint of aesthetics, plans one modern interpretation form of China's aesthetics after another, and even tirelessly constructs an "aesthetic system with China characteristics".
Passionate aesthetic pursuit produces passionate aesthetic discourse. From systematic works with hundreds of thousands of words and millions of words to exquisite prose-like thought notes and impassioned academic comments; From the translation of ancient Greece to western aesthetic masterpieces in recent ten years, to the classification, sorting and annotation of ancient books in China ... In the 20th century, "aesthetics" produced countless documents in China. Learning is rolling, and natural performance is eliminated. Although there are many classics handed down from generation to generation, how many are forgotten in the memory of academic history?
The rule of measuring the intellectual value of academic development mercilessly reveals the brilliance of China's aesthetics in the 20th century. In the burning of a century of passion, it shows the great attempt of theory and the inherent difficulties of thought. "Aesthetics in China" has therefore become a topic of academic history with full reflection.
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Here, we might as well briefly describe the academic style of "One Hundred Years of China Aesthetics":
The academic mind of "seeing the world with your eyes open" and the theoretical attitude of "takenism" are the basic academic route of China's aesthetic practice of its own "open door" strategy in the 20th century, and also the basic point of China's aesthetic modernity construction thinking.
Starting from Wang Guowei, it has become a basic "modernity" academic attitude of China aestheticians in the 20th century to interpret China's aesthetics and art with western aesthetic theories, especially the German classical aesthetic concepts and methods since modern times, and even rebuild the modern theoretical building of China's aesthetics with the help of western modern aesthetic theories, concepts and methods. Wang Guowei's Review of A Dream of Red Mansions is a pioneering work in this respect: Schopenhauer's tragic aesthetics has become the direct basis for Wang to interpret the occurrence and entanglement of tragic aesthetics in the world of A Dream of Red Mansions. On Poetry by Zhu Guangqian is the most typical writing form of China's art, which skillfully shows the incisive methods of modern western psychological aesthetics. Until the last twenty years, in the analysis and interpretation of China's art, China's literature and even China's classical aesthetic thought, we can all see the huge figure of "Western learning" in one way or another. Let's just say that the basic trend of the history of Chinese aesthetics in the 20th century is to express China aestheticians' interpretation will and theoretical thoughts with specific theories and academic methods of western aesthetics. Therefore, when this situation develops to the extreme, we can also believe that in the sense of academic construction, western aesthetics has not only become the theoretical cornerstone of China's aesthetics in the 20th century, but also, to a great extent, the "building block" of China's aesthetics in the 20th century.
After careful analysis of the formation and development of this basic aesthetic condition, we find that, on the one hand, it is related to the eager pursuit of aesthetics by China aestheticians in the 20th century and to modern architectural forms. If we say that the classical form of China's aesthetics is mainly reflected in the poetic theory under the guidance of divergent thinking, the most typical way of presenting it is to convey the aesthetic mystery that non-logical and non-conceptual thinking can clarify with intelligent and Zen-like words; Then, the aesthetics of this kind of architecture on the academic characteristics of ancient China has shown certain fuzziness and uncertainty in the academic choice and reconstruction of modern China, which is in conflict with the ideal of China's aesthetic reconstruction in the 20th century, that is, the academic system close to modern western countries. Therefore, it is an inevitable process and result to transform China's aesthetics with the help of the achievements of "Western learning" and realize the modern transformation of aesthetic existence. In other words, in the modernity thought of China's aesthetics in the 20th century, "West", as a theoretical discourse form that embodies the inevitability of being first, first appeared in the field of vision of China aestheticians. With the gradual advancement of China's aesthetic research, this form, which stands out from the inevitability of discourse, has gradually expanded into consciousness in the century-long construction of China's aesthetics. On the other hand, the formation and development of this basic situation is also a special theoretical expression of China's cultural modernity practice throughout the 20th century. Because obviously, when the modern thinking and pursuit of culture is directly modeled by western rational civilization, academic activities as the spiritual pioneer of cultural ideals must first highlight and affirm the value of "the West" and its theory from the social ideological level. Putting the academic vision of aesthetics into the western sky is not only for the purpose of the theory itself, but also to reproduce the practical attitude and values of China culture in the 20th century.
The theoretical feature of "aesthetic essentialism" is not only a firm academic spirit, but also a substantial cultural ideal, which is deeply rooted in the academic evolution of China's aesthetics in the 20th century. It not only standardizes the theoretical construction of aesthetics, but also strengthens the academic/life demands of China aestheticians in the past century, and becomes the most basic yardstick for aesthetics to measure itself and judge life.
On the one hand, although some scholars have pointed out that there are always conflicts and contradictions between utilitarianism and super-utilitarianism in China's aesthetics in the 20th century, that is, the pursuit of modernity construction in China's aesthetics has intensified the theoretical differentiation between aesthetic attitude and aesthetic ideal; However, if we look deeper, this utilitarian and super-utilitarian aesthetic differentiation has not converged into a large-scale theoretical confrontation. On the contrary, in the past hundred years, two kinds of aesthetic viewpoints have kept pace for a long time, and both * * * are the development routes of China's aesthetic basic theory in the 20th century. The internal reason lies in: whether it is to stick to the aesthetic ideal of radical life transformation will or to maintain various aesthetic propositions that are relatively quiet and introspective, there is a basic cultural foothold in essence, that is, "aesthetics" is the ideal life activity, "freedom and consciousness of aesthetics/art" is the highest realm of life consciousness, and "aestheticization" is the final destination of social and cultural construction. That is to say, the conflict and parallel advancement of utilitarianism and super-utilitarianism in the development of China's aesthetics in the 20th century does not mean that they must have absolute ontological hostility, but only shows that they have some differences or differences in how to practice aesthetic transformation and express aesthetic will. In fact, among China aestheticians in the 20th century, "beauty/art" has always been the noblest and purest object, and "a better society" and "a better life" have always presented supreme value prospects. Therefore, taking "beauty" as the critical measure of real life and the practical standard of ideal life is the value essence advocated by China aestheticians in theory and pursued in action. If the utilitarian view in aesthetics puts "beauty/art" in the lofty practice of life action, then super-utilitarian aesthetics highlights the social harmonious function of "beauty/art" and the free essence of life experience. In this way, no matter what theoretical differentiation China's aesthetics has shown in the last hundred years, in fact, "aesthetics" has always been an irresistible ideal banner within various aesthetic propositions.
On the other hand, it is precisely because of the above situation that "aesthetic essentialism", as the inner spiritual embodiment of China's aesthetics in the 20th century, has gained its own unique image in theory. To sum up, the theoretical essence of this "aesthetic essentialism" of China's aesthetics in the 20th century lies in: firstly, the life cognitive function of aesthetics/art is fully highlighted through the ontological replacement of aesthetic epistemology, and the solution of all life and social problems must be placed on the development of this aesthetic/artistic ability. Secondly, around the prospect of "aestheticization" transformation of society and life, the understanding of aesthetic/artistic essence is positioned in the free liberation of human nature and the promotion of personality beautification, which highlights the humanistic investigation characteristics of aesthetics. Thirdly, the direct relationship between life and aesthetics/art is defined from the absoluteness of rationality, and it is further extended to the unfolding dimension of life essence to determine the value rationality of life activities. Fourthly, the purity and uniqueness of "beauty" are used to standardize the ontological characteristics of artistic existence, and the absolute aesthetic value is used to confirm the legitimate function of artistic activities, so that the philosophical grasp of aesthetics on artistic issues is closely tied to the transcendental basis of "beauty"; Furthermore, the aesthetic interpretation of artistic value directly returns to the metaphysical defense of "what is beauty".
In a sense, the theoretical achievement led by "aesthetic essentialism" is the ideal feeling of "aesthetic salvation" leading China's aesthetic academic practice in the 20th century. Aesthetics always treats its own understanding of social life problems as a life ontology with sufficient reasons, trying to realize the spiritual treatment of real life and life experience. In the 20th century, China aestheticians were often willing to act as such "psychiatrists". Just as Cai Yuanpei hopes to replace religion with aesthetic education, China aestheticians have always fixed their theoretical thinking on the understanding and practice of beauty/art education for a hundred years, which can well reflect an aesthetic/life value of "saving the world".
From the concrete process of academic evolution, we can also find that, in a sense, the "aesthetic craze" that occurred in the 1980s and the "generalization" of various aesthetic disciplines also proved the great influence and inevitable development of this aesthetic essentialism. Because one thing is obvious: when people recognize that "beauty/art" is a life value ontology; In other words, when "beauty" becomes a self-evident transcendental value, aesthetics becomes an all-encompassing, omnipotent and omnipotent theory. Therefore, it is understandable that pure aesthetics finally becomes very impure-at least, from the standpoint of essentialism, why can't everything in life and all fields in life become the territory of "aesthetics"? Similarly, any criticism of the "generalization" of aesthetics is actually just a maintenance of "beauty" according to the spiritual intention of aesthetic essentialism, and its ultimate direction is still to maintain the normative role of aesthetics.
In the history of China's aesthetics in the 20th century, the ideological function of Marxism is far greater than its theoretical inspiration to China's aesthetics, and the pursuit of modernity in China's aesthetics is just related to all kinds of efforts to build a "Marxist aesthetic system". Therefore, from the perspective of academic history, the theoretical transformation of China's aesthetics in the 20th century actually had an ideological compulsion that the theory itself could not escape, and specifically reflected the academic fate of China in the 20th century.
Since 1930s at the latest, Marxist literary thoughts have been introduced to China on a certain scale (before that, some traces of their literary thoughts have been seen in some Marxist propaganda). Since 1949, Marxism has occupied a dominant position in aesthetic research, and the construction of "Marxist aesthetic system" has become the (standard) [academic] slogan of almost all aestheticians in China, while manuscripts, Engels' letter to Hagenas (about typical) and other documents have become the basis for people to speculate on aesthetics. However, as far as the academic history of aesthetics is concerned, the reason why "Marxism" can become a very important topic in the development of China's aesthetics in the 20th century does not lie in whether "Marxist aesthetics" can be effectively established or whether it really embodies the self-evident requirements of the theory (as many people have argued: Does the founder of Marxism have his own aesthetic theory? ), but lies in: First of all, Marxism does not appear as a theoretical object, but plays a role as an ideology (discourse) [institutional pressure]. On the one hand, China aestheticians' understanding and acceptance of Marxist literary theory is not only restricted by the concrete practice of social revolution, but also the ["second-hand"] result of studying [Leninism] Soviet-Russian Marxist theory. It shows that Marxism, in the process of the modernity transformation of China's aesthetics, [concretely] originated from a specific ideological [subversive practice] attempt. Therefore, in practice, "Marxist aesthetics" mainly embodies the role of [its] "theoretical weapon" in China in the 20th century. Theoretically, it directly followed the annotation method of the Soviet-Russian revolution to Marxism [,which cultivated the absolute belief of China's aesthetic research in "Soviet-Russian Marxism" for a whole era]. Among them, the theoretical variation of Marxism is obviously inevitable, which directly affects the prospect of Marxist aesthetic construction in China. On the other hand, when Marxism [as an ideological system] achieved absolute status in China, aesthetics and aesthetic research were subordinate to "Marxism" or even divorced from the purely academic category, but directly linked to the ideology of the will to power in China society [,becoming an institutional requirement]. Because of this, it is not surprising that after 1949, a variety of "Marxist aesthetics" appeared in Chinese aesthetic circles-the ideological belief in Marxism slipped from the theoretical level to the pursuit and consolidation of political interests, ["Marxism" became a convenient discourse and was (continuously) [infinitely] copied in aesthetic research.
In this respect, the "aesthetic discussion" in 1950s and 1960s is a typical event. The emergence of the so-called "four schools of aesthetics" and its fierce debate make it difficult for people to understand how "Marxism" is both materialistic and dialectical. When each school accuses each other of the "idealistic essence", the embarrassment of real Marxism in aesthetic research lies in: the philosophical ontology of Marxism is intentionally or unintentionally transferred to an epistemological feature; In fact, what everyone cares about is not the ontological basis of Marxist aesthetics, but the main starting point of "beauty" cognitive activities; In various China-oriented Marxist aesthetics, the answer to "what is beauty" has been transformed into the question of "how can one possibly know beauty". Therefore, we find that the lack of aesthetic ontology on the road of China's aesthetic modernity is related to people's (understanding) [attitude] towards Marxism to some extent. Even, we can say that in the process of accepting, explaining and establishing Marxist aesthetics, an "academic pragmatism" is (often) exposed.
3. A hundred years of vicissitudes. It goes without saying that the road of modernity construction of China's aesthetics has come to this day, during which the confusion and difficulties are self-evident. As long as we are willing to continue to struggle in the ideological space of aesthetics, we have to discuss the following issues positively:
What is the real significance of China's aesthetic modernity construction? The answer to this question is not only related to the conditions and ways to re-recognize the history of Chinese aesthetics in the 20th century, but also directly related to the possibility of China's aesthetics realizing its own modernity transformation, thus also related to the growth characteristics of China's aesthetic academic value in the new century.
How is the legitimacy of China's aesthetics reflected in the process of expanding the dialogue with western academic thoughts? The seriousness of this problem is not only directly related to how we analyze and clean up the academic resources of China's aesthetics in the 20th century, but more importantly, due to the extensiveness of cultural exchange and ideological dialogue, the modernization process of China's aesthetics in the oriental cultural system has faced a more complicated ideological context than in the past. Therefore, for us, only by constantly confirming our legitimacy can we produce an effective era of ideological dialogue and academic construction. Conversely, the universality of ideological dialogue can only produce its own real effect if it is linked with the confirmation of aesthetics' own legitimacy.