The origin of aesthetics can be traced back to the ancient slave society. Ancient thinkers' philosophical discussion of beauty and art and their research and summary of artistic practical experience can be regarded as the germination and starting point of aesthetic theory.
Aesthetics, as an independent science, is a modern product. In the18th century, when bourgeois philosophy and science flourished, aesthetics began to be established as a special topic in German classical philosophy. Baumgarden [1] used the word "aesthetics" for the first time in 1750, and regarded aesthetics as an integral part of the philosophical system. Subsequently, Kant and Hegel endowed aesthetics with a more systematic theoretical form, which made it occupy an important position in its philosophical system. Under the domination of positivism, some bourgeois aestheticians in the19th century tried to make aesthetics get rid of philosophy and become the so-called "empirical science". Of course, the empirical aesthetics, which calls itself "the science of experience", is not and cannot be separated from the domination of philosophy, but aesthetics has developed more extensively and independently in this period.
The emergence of Marxist philosophy provides a truly scientific world outlook and methodology for aesthetic research and changes the face of aesthetic research. Marxist classical writers have also put forward many important principled aesthetic viewpoints, but they have not been systematized in time. Therefore, the establishment of a scientific Marxist aesthetic system is still a task to be completed. It should be said that the study of aesthetics from the perspective of Marxism is still in the exploratory stage.
Aesthetics, as a social science, is produced and developed on the basis of social material life and spiritual life, and it is a science that studies beauty, aesthetic feeling, beauty creation and aesthetic education law.
Aesthetic feeling is an emotional experience of the characteristics of external beauty or internal beauty of objective things. It is an emotion of affirmation, satisfaction, pleasure and admiration when people with certain aesthetic standards evaluate the beautiful characteristics of objective things. Aesthetic experience has two distinct characteristics: 1. Perception of the lines, colors, phonology, harmony, vividness and symmetry of aesthetic objects is the basis of aesthetic feeling. 2. Perception and power of beautiful things. Aesthetic feeling is a subjective attitude towards aesthetic objects and a reflection of the relationship between whether aesthetic objects meet the needs of the subject. Aesthetics means appreciating beauty and ugliness. Aesthetic feeling can only be produced through the activities of cognition, evaluation and appreciation. Because everyone's aesthetic needs, viewpoints, standards, abilities and cultural background are different, the aesthetic experience of the same object is also different. Not only the evaluation and appreciation of beauty and ugliness can arouse people's aesthetic feeling, but also the evaluation of good and evil will affect people's aesthetic feeling and experience.