艺术起源“符号说”检讨

A rethink of the origin of art:the view of symbols

艺术起源于符号一说最早是由考古学家和心理学家提出的,从提出的理论类型上来说,比较著名的学说有:性符号论、象形符号说、季节符号论这三种。然而这三种学说都不同程度地有其局限和缺陷,证据不足,说服力不够。国内从符号学角度研究艺术起源的专著不多。《符号:语言与艺术》一书主要讨论语言和艺术的符号本质,理论上较过去的研究有新的突破,但其对材料缺乏理论上的反思,一些猜测缺少证据的支持。《艺术的起源》一书观点明确,其中有关不同类别艺术的研究都非常有价值,但是作者明显将符号的概念泛化了,有些解释偏离共识,使人难以接受。就目前来说,艺术起源"符号说"有其不能克服的困难。

Archaeologists and psychologists put forward the hypothesis that art originates from symbols. The three mostpopular views are sex-symbol,hieroglyph-symbol and season-symbol. Regardless of their popularity,however,they are not utterly convincing. Symbols:Art and Language and The Origin of Art are the representatives of thefew academic books on this topic in China. The former makes theoretical development but needs more supportingevidence;and the latter raises original opinions on the classification of art but some explanations sound far-fetched. Therefore,the view that art originates from symbols is not persuasive.