中西美学中的虚与实

The Presence and the Absence in Chinese and Western Aesthetics

中西美学在艺术的虚实问题上看法不同,中国美学推崇虚,西方美学推崇实。柏拉图和文艺复兴的大师们对艺术褒贬不同,但他们所依据的原则一样,艺术因为虚而受到谴责,因为实而受到褒扬。中国美学推崇艺术不是因为艺术之实,而是因为艺术之虚,艺术的魅力就在于它能够将现实世界虚灵化为精神世界。20世纪西方美学家看到了虚在艺术中的重要作用,但是这种虚与中国美学所推崇的虚非常不同。前者是一种解释和知识形式,后者是一种觉解和生活方式。

In Chinese and Western aesthetics,there are different views about the presence and the absence in art.In Chinese aesthetics the absence is advocated while in Western aesthetics the presence is advocated.Though Plato and the Renaissance masters were totally different in their judgments for art,their criteria of judgment were almost the same.Plato depreciated art due to its absence,while the Renaissance masters appreciated art due to its presence.But in Chinese aesthetics art is appreciated due to its absence rather than its presence,and so it is different from both Plato and the Renaissance masters.In Chinese aesthetics,the appeal of art lies in its capacity for the spiritual transfiguration of the real or actual things instead of their representation.20th-century Western aestheticians have come to see the important role the absence plays in art,but their concept of the absence is quite different from that their Chinese counterparts hold.The former understands the absence as＂an atmosphere of theory＂which consists of systematic knowledge of art theory,history,and criticism;whereas the latter understands it as an internal self-understanding on which the ordinary life is hopefully transfigured into a work of art.