重读“美育代宗教”小札

Some Notes on"Replacing Religion by Aesthetic Education"

王国维并不主张"以美育代宗教",蔡元培亦未受王国维之影响。"以美育代宗教"之大背景是"五四"时期的反宗教运动。此口号是为数众多的"取代论"中之一,其理论根基则是清末民初蔚为大潮的"唯科学主义"。今日,重视、提倡并落实美育,乃当务之急,"以美育代宗教"却大可不必。尤其在主张和谐、宽容之时,就更不必如此了。

WANG Guowei did not hold the view that we should replace religion by aesthetic education, and he did not influence Cai Yuanpei. The background of the slogan, ＂Replacing Religion by Aesthetic Education＂, is the anti-religion movement during the May 4th Period when there were many such slogans as ＂Replacing Religion by Science＂, etc. This kind of slogans was grounded on scientism, which was very popular from the late Qing Dynasty. Nowadays, an urgent issue in education is to attach much importance to and practice aesthetic education, yet it is not necessary to replace religion by aesthetic education, for it is non-tolerant.