Judging from the hot topics of hownet papers, in recent years, the essence of beauty has rarely been discussed in academic circles, and the proposition that "beauty is difficult" has rarely been mentioned. However, this does not mean that the understanding of the essence of aesthetics has been finalized, but it is inconclusive. Or just put aside the debate on the nature of beauty because we can't find a conclusion, which also reflects the nature of beauty from another side, as Plato said-beauty is difficult. At the same time, it shows that this proposition also has fresh vitality and contemporary significance.
Especially when art develops to the present age, looking back at this proposition, its profound meaning is self-evident. Starting from the origin of this aesthetic proposition, we cut into our problems from three angles.
The first angle: Plato, the initiator of "Beauty Difficulty"
As the first person to explore the essence of beauty, Plato has unquestionable importance in the history of western thought. This can be seen from other philosophers and thinkers' comments on him:
Plato is philosophy? Philosophy is Plato-Emerson.
Western philosophy in 2500 is just a series of footnotes of Plato. ? Barrett
As long as you have a copy of Plato's Republic, you can burn all the libraries, because their value lies in this book. -The story of philosophy Durant
All metaphysics speaks Plato's words-Heidegger
The above is the evaluation of Plato by great philosophers and thinkers in the history of western philosophy. Why Plato is so important to westerners in western history, we can't cover everything, but we can discuss Plato's significance and influence from the historical development of the essence of beauty, which is closely related to our discussion. This topic is put here for the time being and will be discussed in depth later. What needs to be clear here is that Plato, the proposer of the aesthetic proposition that "beauty is difficult", has an important position not only in the history of western aesthetics, but also in the history of western philosophy and thought. It should be said that Plato is as important to the West and Europe as Confucius is to the culture of China and Asia.
The second angle: the text analysis of the great hippias.
For the specific origin of the aesthetic proposition of "beauty is difficult", we can refer to Plato's Literary Dialogue translated by Mr. Zhu Guangqian. Among them, Scipio Africanus's discussion on the essence of beauty has gone through three stages: from shallow to deep, from phenomenon to essence:
In the first stage, Scipio Africanus provided the answer to the essence of beauty.
Socrates asked: What is beauty?
Hippocrates replied: Beauty is a beautiful young lady.
Socrates asked again, aren't the mare and the soup pot beautiful? Where is the beautiful harp?
Big shot: gold makes things beautiful.
Sue: Why do people carve the goddess' face with ivory instead of gold and the goddess' body with stone?
Big: Suitability is beauty.
The discussion at this stage is gradual. Socrates asked the essence of beauty, and Scipio Africanus gave some answers, focusing on the phenomenon of beauty. So he specifically talked about beautiful young lady, beautiful mare, beautiful soup pot, beautiful harp and other specific things.
However, in Socrates' refutation, Scipio Africanus finally began to explore beauty itself, that is, the essence of beauty, along Socrates' train of thought. Finally, I pulled away from the appearance of concrete things and turned to explore beauty from the perspective of the essence of things, and gave a definition of the essence of beauty: it is appropriate to make everything beautiful.
But Plato was not satisfied with this answer and refuted it again. Thus, the second stage of exploring the essence of beauty began.
In the second stage, Socrates also gave three answers about what is beauty.
The first answer-beauty is useful.
The second answer-beauty is beneficial.
The third answer-beauty is pleasure produced by sight and hearing.
The above three answers are Socrates' three attempts to give beauty from the perspective of concept, but he denied himself every time. In the end, he denied his three answers; This also forced him to enter the third stage of the discussion on the essence of beauty, which is the last proposition in Scipio Africanus's many discussions on the essence of beauty-beauty is difficult.
The third angle: the aesthetic contribution of Plato and Scipio Africanus.
Scipio Africanus's Significance: This paper tries to define beauty from the level of concept and definition. It is the first article to define beauty, and systematically discusses the core issues of beauty, such as aesthetic feeling, such as the development of beauty and the relationship between beauty and ugliness. These problems are still the core topics of aesthetics.
Among them, in the discussion about the essence of beauty, this article has special significance: it draws people's attention from concrete phenomena to relatively abstract beauty ontology. Began speculation about "beauty".
The article has been repeated several times, and the point repeatedly emphasized is the beauty itself or the essence of beauty. For example, Socrates said, "Is there a kind of beauty itself that makes those things beautiful?" "I asked about beauty itself, and this beauty itself passed on its characteristics to a thing, making it beautiful." "Have you forgotten my question? I asked about beauty itself. When it is added to anything, it becomes beautiful. " ……
That is, the whole article is about the discussion and questioning of beauty itself. Why did Plato do this? Because, as a philosopher, when he looks at the world, he often starts from the essence. He will not be satisfied with the phenomenon, but will explore the essence of things after the phenomenon, and the same is true about beauty. He must know what is natural and why. Because knowing what it is is not true knowledge, to truly master beauty must March from the phenomenon of beauty to the essence of beauty. Even, in Plato's view, for the most fundamental things, those vivid and colorful beauty phenomena often become an obstacle.
Meaning 2: Beauty is really hard.
The second significance of this article lies in the proposition that beauty is difficult. Although the article discusses the essence of beauty from Scipio Africanus's perspective and Plato's perspective respectively, they can't convince each other. Finally, Plato ended the debate and discussion with a sigh-"beauty is difficult". Since then, it has left an eternal mystery to the field of aesthetics-what is beauty? Later philosophers and aestheticians followed this line of thinking and enriched their cognition of beauty in the process of exploring the essence of beauty. Wu Jie school
Attachment: Zhou Xian Aesthetic Reading Bibliography
Zhou Xian, a senior professor of humanities and social sciences at Nanjing University, a professor at Art College, the president of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, and distinguished professor, a Changjiang scholar at the Ministry of Education, was an assistant to the president of Nanjing University. He is the author of Criticism of Aesthetic Modernity, The Turn of Visual Culture, Theoretical Travel between Cultures, What is Aesthetics, etc.
1. Areti: Secrets of Creation, Liaoning People's Publishing House, 1987.
2. abrams: Mirrors and Lights, Peking University Publishing House, 1989.
3. A Sabel: Creative Social Psychology, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 1987 edition.
4. Bart: S/Z, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2000.
5. Bell: Art, China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Company, 1984 Edition.
6. Brock: A New Interpretation of Aesthetics, Liaoning People's Publishing House,. 1987.
7. Brock: Aesthetics as an Intermediary, Joint Publishing Company, 199 1 edition.
8. Selected Works of Fangshan: Selected Works of Russian Formalism, Sanlian Bookstore, 1989 edition.
9. Geiger: The Significance of Art, Huaxia Publishing House, 1999.
10. Greenberg: Modernist Painting, edited by francine: Modern Art and Modernism, Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 1982.
1 1. Gombrich: Art and Illusion, Zheting Photography Publishing House, 1987.
12. Selected Works of He Taizai: Notes on Modern Art, Foreign Literature Publishing House .2001Edition.
13. Jin Dao You Xin: Philosophical Thinking on Love and Beauty, Sanlian Bookstore, 1997 Edition.
14. Kant: Critique of Judgment, Volume I, Commercial Press, 1964.
15. Collingwood: Principles of Art, China Social Sciences Press, 1985.
16. Langer: Emotion and Form, China Social Sciences Press, 1986.
17. lippman. Contemporary aesthetics. Guangming Daily Press. 1986.
18. Listowell: A Review of the History of Modern Aesthetics, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1980.
19. Li Zehou: The Course of Beauty, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 198 1 Edition.
20. Marcuse: The Dimension of Aesthetics, Joint Publishing Company, 1989 edition.
2 1. Marcuse: Art as a Realistic Form, edited by Wu Yifu and Hu Jingzhi: Selected Western Literary Theories, Peking University Publishing House, 1987.
22. Maslow: Exploration of Existentialist Psychology, Yunnan People's Publishing House, 1987 edition.
23. Parker: Aesthetic Principles, Guangxi Normal University Press, 200 1 edition.
24. winkelmann: On Greek Art, published in World Aesthetics and Art series 1 2,3, Culture and Art Publishing House, 1983, 1984.
25. Shepard: Aesthetics, Liaoning Education Press, 1998 edition.
26. Xu: The Artistic Spirit of China, Literature and Art Publishing House, 1987 edition.
27. Aristotle: Poetics, Commercial Press, 1999 edition.
28. Hans Robert Jauss et al.: Reception Aesthetics and Reception Theory, Liaoning People's Publishing House, 1987.
29. Ye Lang, editor-in-chief: Modern Aesthetic System, Peking University Publishing House, 1999 edition.
30. Ye Lang: "The Bamboo in the Chest", Anhui Education Press, 1999 edition.
3 1. Ye Lang: Outline of Chinese Aesthetic History, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1985.
32. Ye Xiushan: The Philosophy of Beauty, People's Publishing House, 199 1 edition.
33. Howe Weimar: Aesthetics, Commercial Press, 1995 Edition.
34. Judy: Contemporary Western Aesthetics, People's Publishing House, 1984 edition.
35. Zhu Guangqian: Letters on Beauty, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1980 edition.
36. Zhu Guangqian: History of Western Aesthetics, People's Literature Publishing House, 1979 edition.
37. Zong Baihua: Aesthetic Walking, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 198 1 Edition.
-What is Aesthetics? Peking University Publishing House.