Clarity Aesthetics (Observations from the Non-mainstream)

Author: Liu Shilin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: This book is a summary of the author's ten years of research in aesthetic theory. Its theoretical significance for the human spirit can be understood from two aspects:
From a critical perspective, it logically and a priori distinguishes the "academic entanglement" between "aesthetics" and "philosophy," seriously examining the "rational" erosion of Western mainstream aesthetics on the human aesthetic spirit. Secondly, it delivers a severe critique of the logical confusion between "ethics" and "aesthetics" commonly found in Chinese aesthetics, and thereby thoroughly investigates the "historical" concealment of the ethical form over the aesthetic form in mainstream Chinese aesthetics.
From a constructive perspective, on one hand, it constructs an ontological context for correctly describing the existence of beauty through logical labor, employing a theoretical method that combines "ontological analysis" and "structural relationships." Without ontological analysis, it is impossible to clarify any ontological context, and without structural relationships, it is impossible to conduct any essential description. On the other hand, it distinguishes between the two entirely different life poetics of Eastern and Western civilizations starting from the original "poetic wisdom" structure of humanity. The "Forest Path" of Western civilization originates from the conflict between humans and nature. Due to the loss of poetic knowledge in the Axial Age, this conflict cannot be resolved within the Western cultural context. The "Homeward Path" of Chinese civilization, however, stems from the conflict between humans and society. As long as one successfully avoids the center of civilization and rejects individualized forms, they can redeem the original freedom of life.
This book not only clears the logical obstacles for aesthetic research to reach the "ontological clarity" level from the perspective of knowledge critique but also, thereby, points out the true path of illumination for the free activities of human life.