First, the role of aesthetic cognition
It mainly refers to people's deeper understanding of nature, society, history and life through art appreciation activities. Art has the function of aesthetic cognition to society, history and life. Because artistic activities have the characteristics of unity of reflection and creation, unity of reproduction and expression, and unity of subject and object, they can often reveal the true meaning and connotation of society, history and life more deeply, have the specialty of reflecting the depth and breadth of social life, and often bring unforgettable rich social life knowledge to people through vivid and touching artistic images.
For natural phenomena as big as celestial bodies and as small as cells, art also has aesthetic cognitive function. Art can help people increase their scientific knowledge in many ways.
Second, the role of aesthetic education
It mainly means that people are influenced and infected by truth, goodness and beauty through art appreciation activities, get enlightenment in thought, find an example in practice and improve their understanding. In the subtle process, people's thoughts, feelings and ideals have undergone profound changes, guiding people to correctly understand and understand life and establish a correct outlook on life and the world. The aesthetic function of art, to a great extent, is to let readers, audiences and listeners feel and comprehend the profound humanistic spirit through works of art.
The first characteristic of the function of artistic aesthetic education is "perceptual person". The most striking difference between art education and other education is the way people feel. Works of art are always full of the artist's thoughts and feelings, which affect the feelings of the appreciator through vivid and touching artistic descriptions, and make people strongly infected and edified. Therefore, the educational function of art is by no means a dry moral sermon, let alone a moral admonition with a straight face. But with emotional people, through the powerful appeal of art, the appreciator is consciously and voluntarily educated. 1876, lev tolstoy, a great Russian writer, was moved to tears when listening to the second movement of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's String Quartet in D major, that is, Andante. Tolstoy said that in this piece of music, "I touched the souls of people who suffered."
The second characteristic of artistic aesthetic education is "imperceptible". The education of artistic works to people often makes the appreciator be infected consciously or unconsciously without any compulsion, and gradually purifies people's mind for a long time, which has a subtle educational effect on people's thoughts, feelings and mental outlook. Take patriotic poetry as an example, from Qu Yuan's Lisao, "The road is long and Xiu Yuan is Xi, and I will go up and down" to the northern folk song Mulan Poetry, "Wan Li goes to Rongji and flies over Chung Shan Man"; From Ge Yanxing, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, "The northeast frontier is filled with smoke, and our generals left their homes to repel the barbaric invaders" to Du Fu's "A leopard cannot change his spots" in Spring Hope. From the Southern Song Dynasty poet Lu You's "Shizi", "Julian Waghann concentrated in the north, and the family sacrifice was never forgotten", to Wen Tianxiang's "Song Zhengqi", its powerful appeal and impact are indeed beyond the reach of other social ideologies. It should be said that the thoughts and sentiments formed under the long-term subtle influence of artistic works often have stronger stability and continuity, and often become the core components of outlook on life and world outlook.
Third, the aesthetic entertainment function
The aesthetic entertainment function of art mainly refers to satisfying people's aesthetic needs, obtaining spiritual enjoyment and aesthetic pleasure through art appreciation activities, pleasing the eyes, relaxing the mind and solving doubts, and making the body and mind happy and rest through reading works or watching performances. Material products are to meet people's survival needs, while spiritual products are to meet people's spiritual needs. As a special spiritual product, art can bring people aesthetic pleasure and psychological pleasure. Horace, an aesthetician in ancient Rome, suggested that art should be entertaining, not only to convince readers, but also to make readers like it, so as to meet expectations. Yue Ji, a theoretical work of pre-Qin art in China, has a similar idea, which puts forward the view that "musicians are happy" and thinks that art (including music) should make people happy. Yue Ji summarizes the musical aesthetic thought in the pre-Qin period.
Another function of artistic aesthetic entertainment is to make people have a positive rest through artistic appreciation, so as to put new energy into new work. Since 1950s, music therapy has gradually attracted the interest and attention of medical professionals and musicians all over the world. The United States, Britain and other countries have successively established various music medical magazines to treat certain diseases with music, and have carried out a series of research work in this field. Some universities in the United States have also set up special degrees in art therapy. Many schools of western modern and contemporary psychology attach great importance to the catharsis or purification of the deep psychology of the appreciator by art, and believe that art can fulfill people's suppressed or unrealized emotions, wishes, expectations and ideals in real life, and satisfy the imaginary world or dream world created by art.