Contemporary Reflections on Aesthetic Prose Beauty is Difficult (Ⅲ)

The difficulty of beauty is discussed from two angles: the first angle introduces the origin of the proposition of difficulty of beauty, and discusses why Plato said it. The second view holds that it is difficult to choose the main proposition to demonstrate beauty from the essence of beauty. Plato is not the only one who knows that the essence of beauty is full of ambiguity and confrontation in the whole aesthetic process. At the same time, in the discussion of the essence of beauty, this paper discusses it according to the diachronic order of the propositions of the essence of beauty, and we will find that when the last proposition discussed by Wittgenstein appears, we are farther away from the essence of beauty. In other words, understanding the essence of beauty still faces many difficulties in contemporary times.

For Wittgenstein, this difficulty is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, it is reflected in Wittgenstein's contradictory cognition of the essence of beauty in the early and late stages: in the previous stage, Wittgenstein thought that the essence of beauty existed and tried to define it. For example, he said that "the essence of beauty is unspeakable", for example, he said that "beauty is something that makes people happy" and so on, all of which show that he is trying to explore the essence of beauty and thinks that the essence of beauty exists. But in the later period, he thought that beauty had no essence. In other words, the same aesthetician has a completely different view on the essence of beauty.

Second, it is reflected in his later cognition of the essence of beauty. At this stage, he thinks there is no essence of beauty. In this way, while abolishing the essence of beauty, he overthrew the efforts of many aestheticians since Plato to ask about the essence of beauty and various definitions about the essence of beauty, thus making beauty look more elusive. Then, why did Wittgenstein's aesthetic phenomenon appear? What is the cause of Wittgenstein's aesthetic view?

The answer to this question is mainly reflected in the relationship between philosophy and aesthetics, and the view of philosophy directly affects the view of aesthetics. This is also the main content of this section.

1, the relationship between philosophy and aesthetics

Wittgenstein (1889- 195 1) said that "there are strange similarities between philosophical research and aesthetic research". Therefore, although Wittgenstein has no special aesthetic works, his philosophical works "On Logical Philosophy" and "Philosophical Research" run through his thoughts on aesthetics, especially on the essence of beauty. Wittgenstein phenomenon well illustrates the relationship between aesthetics and philosophy.

For another example, we know that aesthetics is also called philosophy of art, and Hegel (1770- 183 1) wrote a three-volume masterpiece Aesthetics for this purpose. Hegel declared at the beginning: "The real name of our science is' philosophy of art', or more precisely' philosophy of beauty'."

Hegel strictly limited the research scope of art philosophy to "artistic beauty", and excluded "general beauty" or "natural beauty" and even the whole nature. He even said, "Formally speaking, even a boring fantasy is higher than any natural product, because it always shows spirituality and freedom." . Therefore, in Hegel's view, art is superior to nature, because beauty is the perceptual manifestation of ideas, and only works of art that embody ideas are beautiful, and works of art that embody ideas are spiritual works at a higher level than natural products.

Hegel's view on aesthetics is also called the tradition of aesthetic research, and aestheticians in the later period all carried out aesthetic research along this line of thought. For example, the French philosopher Danner (18 13- 1895) later wrote Philosophy of Art, which discussed the occurrence and development of art from three factors of the racial environment.

In other words, the field of aesthetic research is mainly the philosophical phenomenon in art. Aesthetics is not only the philosophy of art, but also a branch and subsystem of philosophy. Philosophy studies the universe and life, while aesthetics closely revolves around a specific field-art. From the perspective that aesthetics is a philosophy of art, Wittgenstein's "strange similarity" is not difficult to understand. It can be inferred that philosophical research will inevitably affect aesthetic research, and the relationship between Wittgenstein's philosophical research and aesthetic views is a good example. The inconsistency of his aesthetic view is the concrete embodiment of his philosophical view.

2. The influence of philosophical thought on aesthetic thought.

Not only Wittgenstein himself, but also the whole aesthetic history developed with the development of philosophy. At this point, we can analyze Wittgenstein in detail, and the essence of beauty does not exist. Abolishing the essence of beauty and exploring its philosophical roots can be traced back to Nietzsche's philosophy of "God is dead".

The proposition that "God is dead" has been put forward many times in Nietzsche's works. The meaning of God and Christian belief represent the established order, spiritual religious belief and philosophical rational tradition in the western world. The death of God calls for the establishment of a brand-new world system, in which God is killed, man becomes the master of the world, and the rational tradition of philosophy gives way to perceptual reality. In other words, God is dead and man is alive. But Nietzsche also realized the inherent defects of human beings, so he created a new belief that superman is human.

As for the significance of Nietzsche's proposition, for us, the focus is on the influence of this philosophical proposition on aesthetics.

"God is dead, this sentence means that the extrasensory world has lost its power, and it no longer has vitality. Metaphysics is understood by Nietzsche as the end of Platonism western philosophy. Nietzsche understood his philosophy as metaphysics, which is the opposite of Platonism. " (Heidegger S2 13)

Because Nietzsche subverted Plato's metaphysical rationalism, the western traditional philosophy system. Thus, it opens another face of western philosophy, and accordingly, western philosophy is divided into pre-Nietzsche philosophy and post-Nietzsche philosophy. The philosophy before Nietzsche paid attention to rational thinking, but since Nietzsche, philosophy has paid attention to sensibility and physical real life.

Because of his concern for real life, his philosophy is also called philosophy of life, and his cherishing of individual life has left many philosophies: "Every day without dancing is a disappointment to life", "One can endure any kind of life if he knows why he is alive", "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss is staring at you", "Life has no purpose, only one process, and the so-called ultimate goal is nothingness" and ". The first realm is camel, which bears the burden of humiliation and is subject to the arrangement of others or fate. The second realm is the lion, changing from passive to active, from "you should" to "I want", and I take the initiative to fight for everything and take responsibility for life. The third realm baby, this is a state of "I am", living in the moment and enjoying everything in the moment. "

Heidegger's poetic dwelling after Nietzsche is an answer to Nietzsche's question. If Nietzsche only asked questions, Heidegger answered them. What kind of present is "living in the present"? What kind of process is "life has no purpose, only process"? This is a poetic process. It can be said that Heidegger's existentialism philosophy is further separated from the traditional rationalism philosophy tradition from Plato.

Later, western philosophy and aesthetics developed along this line. Nietzsche's Death of God subverts the old philosophical foundation while establishing a new philosophical tradition, and also leads to the establishment of a new aesthetic order. Wittgenstein's aesthetic view is the beginning of establishing a new aesthetic order, and western philosophy has followed this idea. As a branch of philosophy, aesthetics is naturally the same.

3. Other aesthetic thoughts after Wittgenstein.

Nietzsche said that the death of God meant the end of classical aesthetics represented by Plato. Wittgenstein's abolition of the essence of beauty means the beginning of contemporary aesthetics. It can be said that Wittgenstein abolished the essence of beauty and opened a new aesthetic proposition in modern times, which we can call death aesthetics.

First, the author died. The death of roland barthes's author (roland barthes 19 15- 1980) means the liberation of readers. The author retreats behind the scenes after creation, and the works will be given to the readers for self-interpretation, and the works will be given new life because of the existence of the readers.

Secondly, art is over. The end of art means the emergence of new art.

The End of Art (Danto Mei Mei), Danto's The Transformation of Ordinary Things means philosophers' contemporary thinking and combing of art, and the contemporary artistic situation further confirms the long-term vitality of Plato's proposition of "beauty is difficult".

Third, art history is over. The End of Art History (Hans Belting? Germany) means the arrival of a new art history.

In fact, the emergence of a new way of writing art history and the present situation of contemporary art further prove the vitality of Plato's proposition that beauty is difficult in contemporary times. This paper will enter the contemporary art scene in the next section and demonstrate it with specific art cases. Wu Jie school