【 Bright Academic Writing 】

Some scholars believe that the development of life aesthetics is the inevitable result of the development of Chinese aesthetics in the 20th century: the development of Chinese aesthetics in the 20th century, from the introduction of western super-utilitarian aesthetics, to the discussion of human practice in the aesthetic discussion, and then to the rise of life aesthetics, shows that aesthetics is constantly implemented and generated for concrete, living, and lower-case people. From the perspective of the history of aesthetics, the author agrees with this historical orientation of the aesthetics of life. Then, why does the aesthetics of life come into full play in the new century?

Situation of The Times: To promote "good life" with "beautiful life"

Nowadays, the social and cultural changes in China and the people's pursuit of a better life constitute the historical background for the rise of life aesthetics. The good life we pursue should include two dimensions: one is "good life" and the other is "beautiful life". The good life is the realistic basis of the beautiful life, and the beautiful life is the sublimation of the good life. A good life is undoubtedly a "quality" life, and a beautiful life is a "quality" life.

Aesthetics of life is to promote "good life" with "beautiful life", to sublimate quality life with quality life, and to popularize the aesthetic education of life for the people. The aesthetic education of life is the logical deduction of the aesthetic education of life, through which the aesthetic education of life can be implemented. Nowadays, more and more people engaged in the fields of tea ceremony, flower way, incense way, Hanfu revival, arts and crafts, intangible cultural heritage protection, games and animation, community planning, etc., are actively involved in the trend of life aesthetics, and spread the concept of aesthetic education everywhere.

In fact, "life aesthetics" is not only a study of "aesthetic life", but also a happy way to pursue "good life". The "learning" of the former is theoretical, and the "tao" of the latter is practical, and the two should be combined, which is the unity of knowledge and action in aesthetics.

The whole Oriental aesthetics is also a kind of "life aesthetics" from the root. Oriental aesthetics is not only the wisdom of life that can be "understood", but also the tradition of "practice". This is because Western aesthetics used to focus more on art, but Eastern aesthetics has long focused on life. Interestingly, the term "Oriental aesthetics" was not coined by Easterners; it was first used by the French historian Rainer Grusset in his 1948 book From Greece to China, and then there was the Oriental "self-awareness" of its own aesthetic traditions. Thus, the initial "comparative consciousness" was formed, saying that "Chinese aesthetics attach importance to 'form', Japanese aesthetics attach importance to 'color', and Korean aesthetics attach importance to 'line'". But in fact, the core of the whole Oriental aesthetics is "life", which is a kind of "life aesthetics" advocating life.

Oriental life aesthetics focuses on the "inseparable" intimate relationship between aesthetics and life, and focuses on appreciating the beauty of life itself in daily life. China's "aesthetics of life" can represent the Eastern tradition, which is an unbroken tradition of life. Chinese classical aesthetics, as the most "original ecological" aesthetic tradition of life, has formed a kind of Chinese people's life art of sorrow and happiness.

Aesthetics of life: Aesthetics and life are inseparable

The combination of aesthetics and life is a kind of relation that is neither close nor distant. Chinese life aesthetics emphasizes the relationship between aesthetics and life. The "life" here is Chinese people's own "life". The "aesthetics" here is also the "aesthetics" of China.

Life is the unity of "living" and "living", there is a difference between life and living, life is only biological, animals and plants are alive, but only human beings can live. Everyone must be "born" and "live". In the Chinese context, "sheng" originally refers to life, life and endless life, and ultimately refers to vitality and life spirit, but the foundation is still "survival". "Living" refers to the state of life, originally meant to be active, and finally pointed to the interesting and realm of "existence". Shi Tao, a famous painter at the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, said that "because people have the right to support life" in "life", it is precisely this meaning. The "life" understood and practiced by the Chinese people is the existence of the kite flying fish leaping, with fresh connotations and ways of practice.

People should not only "live" life, to "live", but also to "enjoy" life, to "survive". According to the French philosopher Levinas, in the Western world, for the ancients, existence refers to "things"; For modern people, existence refers to "the most internal subjectivity"; For people today, existence means "life," that is, a direct and intimate relationship with oneself and things. In this sense, the Chinese people have long understood the value of life, and have been living in the same earthly "life world" since ancient times, rather than clinging to the difference between this and the other shore, which is the great wisdom of the Chinese people.

People not only live, but also "experience" their lives, and the vast majority of people's lives are always attached to the sensibility. Levinas also said that all enjoyment is a "way of being," but at the same time, a "sensual" existence. The word "aesthetics" originally means sensibility, and the original meaning of aesthetics as a discipline is "sensibility". However, in China, it expands the dimension of "sense" study, thus elevating it to the state of "sense" study, and the two sides of "sense" and "sense" constitute a subtle relationship of "inseparable". Therefore, Chinese "aesthetics" is not only the perceptual study of Western learning, but also a kind of perceptual wisdom.

The reason why the "aesthetics of life" points to a "happy" life is that to live life is to enjoy life and to seek the happiness of life and a happy life. Happiness itself is a matter of aesthetics, not ethics. From ancient times to the present, Chinese people are good at discovering the "beauty of life" and enjoying the "joy of life" from all levels of life. The wisdom of Chinese life lies in turning "living life" into "enjoying life". Because of this, Chinese aesthetics can grow in the real life world, which is naturally a living "life aesthetics".

In this sense, the aesthetics of life (or the aesthetics of eastern life) is not limited to the perceptual study of the West, but rather the perceptual wisdom. Aesthetics is precisely about the pursuit of "happiness" and is committed to making people's lives better. "Life aesthetics" is just a study of happiness, but also a way to achieve happiness!

Since classical Chinese aesthetics is a kind of "living" life aesthetics from the origin, on this basis, Chinese aesthetics can contribute a huge force to today's global aesthetics, because our "aesthetic tradition" is living, and our "living tradition" is aesthetic. The construction of our contemporary "life aesthetics" also needs to be based on Chinese classical aesthetics, forming a kind of "vision fusion" between ancient and modern.

"Life aesthetics" contains the traditional Chinese life consciousness, life concept and life pursuit: on the one hand, it naturally presents the beauty of the classical life scene, on the other hand, it points to the possibility of its coming, direction and transformation. This requires contemporary Chinese aesthetic researchers to actively participate in the latest exchanges with the international aesthetic community on the one hand, and on the other hand to go back to the homeland to explore the resources of Chinese classical "life aesthetics".

The Chinese classical aesthetics of life includes three basic dimensions: "naturalization" (sex), "emotionalization" (emotion) and "culturalization" (literature), which covers all kinds of life from physiological, emotional to cultural in a very comprehensive way. The basic problem consciousness is to explore how to realize the aestheticization of life, thus generating a life tradition of harmony of sorrow and happiness. The aesthetics here is no longer the "small aesthetics" focusing on art, but the "big aesthetics" integrating into life.

"Grand aesthetics" advocates that aesthetics truly return to the living earth where it can grow naturally. When we are trying to recover the Chinese aesthetic tradition of life, it is to establish a "beautiful heart" for Chinese life. The aesthetics of Chinese life can be divided into ten basic aspects: The "beauty of heaven" with the changing weather, the "beauty of man" with the "beauty of man" with the "beauty of earth" with the "beauty of geography" with the "beauty of food" with the taste of food "with the" beauty of things "with the" beauty of things "with the" beauty of things "with the" beauty of things "with the" beauty of things "with the" beauty of things "with the" beauty of things "with the" beauty of mountains and rivers "with the" beauty of mountains and rivers "with the" beauty of literature "with the" beauty of virtue "with the" beauty of nature "with the" beauty of heaven "with the" beauty of nature ". Through the ten aspects of heaven, man, earth, food, food, living, traveling, culture, morality and nature, the great wisdom of Chinese life aesthetics can be deeply described. These aestheticized traditions of life are actually "living" traditions. The reason why Chinese cultural traditions continue to this day is that the tradition of life has never been interrupted, and the tradition of aesthetics has never been interrupted. The "aesthetics of life" is the essence of this unbroken tradition, or the essence of the "sense" and "sense" of this tradition.

China is not only a country of etiquette, but also a country of beauty and kindness. Aesthetics of life is also bound to play an important role in inheriting the long Chinese tradition of "combining rites and music"