中国古代美学思想中的“美”

On Beauty of Aesthetic Ideology in Ancient China

中国古代对美的理解,主要有两个基点:一是基于人,一是基于自然。由此产生两个基本观点:(1)美在文明。这一观点可溯源于《周易》,它主要是儒家学派的观点。儒家对文明的理解主要是善,包括仁与礼。(2)美在自然。这主要是道家学派的观点。道家提出"道法自然"说。"自然"的含义是自然而然。中国人提出一个特殊的概念:"化"。化是和谐的极致。在美学上,主观因素与客观因素的统一为化,它所产生的形象称之为"境界"。中国美学的最高命题是"美在境界"。由美在文明、美在自然,到最后美在境界,经过了一系列的精神超越。

Deriving from two fundamental aesthetic points, the understanding of beauty in ancient China was based on both human and nature. Firstly, beauty lies in civilization, the view of which may be traced back to The Book of Changes. The Confucians take kindness, with benevolence and rite included as their un- derstanding of civilization. Secondly, beauty School, who puts forward the doctrine of that lies in naturalness, the view of which belongs to the Taoist ＂The Tao follows the naturalness＂. The Chinese come up with a special concept, i.e. Hua, which is the acme of harmony. Aesthetically, the integration of subjective factors with objective factors produces the image ＂realm＂. The summit proposition of Chinese aesthetics is that beauty lies in realm. From that beauty lies in civilization, in naturalness, and finally in realm, the Chinese classical aesthetics has accomplished its spiritual transcendence one after another.