Sublime is an aesthetic category. Also known as magnificent. As far as the aesthetic object is concerned, sublimity has great power, which is manifested in personality and moral behavior, the appearance of natural things, the form and style of artistic works and so on. As far as aesthetic experience is concerned, it makes the subject shocked, with a sense of solemnity or awe, and even accompanied by some degree of fear or pain. Compared with other aesthetic categories, sublime and tragedy are similar, both of which are accompanied by great emotional ups and downs. The sublimity of the initiative of the practice subject is manifested in the great power of personality and prior behavior. The sublimity in the field of practical objectification is manifested in the powerful power of natural things. I Kant once divided them into two categories: mathematical (quantitative, volumetric, spatial, static) and mechanical (strength, energy, power and dynamic). In fact, they often blend and coexist. Works of art can integrate these two aspects, with the sublimity of personality and soul as the content and the sublimity of objects and scenes as the form, so that the shocking force is more condensed and concentrated. In Europe, the earliest mention of sublimity is an anonymous paper about the sublimity of ancient Rome in 1 century. The author thinks that sublimity is "the echo of a great mind" and takes the ocean, Nile, Danube and Rhine as examples to illustrate it. In the history of western aesthetics, the first person to strictly distinguish between sublime and beautiful is E. Burke of Britain. Other aestheticians in Britain do not recognize the role of fear and pain in sublime experience, and think that sublime feeling is caused by greatness. In China's traditional aesthetics, sublime or magnificent is often expressed by "grandeur". It focuses on the subject and social value, not the object and natural representation. Mencius called the beauty of personality he emphasized "integrity". In the evaluation of individual personality, he put forward six grades: goodness, faithfulness, beauty, greatness, holiness and divinity, and mentioned that "fullness is beauty, and fullness is greatness". What he called "big" is more vivid and intense than ordinary beauty in degree, broader and grander in scope, and it is a magnificent beauty. Compared with the concepts in western traditional aesthetics, this lofty concept has different emphases, but if this character is associated with related experiences, the object world involved also contains factors that cause suffering. Or close to the lofty characteristics discussed in western aesthetics.
What is beauty? This is one of the oldest questions in aesthetics, and there is no satisfactory answer yet. It is also the most basic theoretical problem in traditional aesthetics, namely the essence of beauty. Questioning the essence of beauty is a philosophical discussion of the ultimate significance of human aesthetic phenomena, and philosophers of all ages are trying to solve this problem. The formal proposal and discussion of this issue began with Plato, a famous ancient Greek philosopher.
Since Plato, the discussion of the essence of beauty has been an important part of the philosophical discussion of western philosophers in past dynasties, so the explanation of the essence of beauty must be related to the basic problems of philosophy and the basic factions of philosophy.
2. Explore the essence of beauty from the spiritual level.
The discussion on the essence of beauty from the spiritual level is divided into two aspects: one is from the objective spiritual level, such as Plato, Plotinos and Hegel; First, from the subjective spirit, such as Hume and Kant.
Plato set beauty as a "single idea", which is the root of all beauty and the essence of beauty.
Prouddin further mystified this idea and called it divine reason. This sacred reason is the source of all things in the universe and the root and essence of beauty. For theologians in the Middle Ages, this concept was directly called "God", and God was the root and essence of all beauty.