美作为“幸福的允诺”——论亚历山大·内哈马斯的生活美学

Beauty as a Promise of Happiness ——On Alexander Nehamas’ Aesthetics of Living

崇尚"生活的艺术"的美国哲学家亚历山大·内哈马斯,在美学上表现出一种回归生活美学的取向,从而展现出美学上的离心化的历史趋势。他的哲学美学的核心理念,就在于将美与幸福直接贯通起来,将美作为幸福的允诺。以此为基础,认定"美就是爱",美因经由欲望,所以才与爱相连;美因与爱相关,所以才关涉幸福。由此,他反对在康德那里得以定型的"审美非功利性"原则,在审美上反对反普遍主义,并强调了审美差异化的"非确定性",认定审美价值就是差异性与个体性的价值,从而在西方美学当中成为一股哲学清流。

Alexander Nehamas, an American philosopher who advocates "the art of living", shows a tendency of returning to the aesthetics of living in aesthetics, thus showing the historical trend of centrifugation in aesthetics.The core idea of his philosophy and aesthetics is to link beauty and happiness directly and to take beauty as the promise of happiness.On this basis, it is believed that "beauty is love".Beauty is connected with love through desire, and beauty is related to love, so it is related to happiness.Therefore, he opposed the principle of "aesthetic disinterestedness" which was espoused by Kant, and opposed anti-universalism in aesthetics.He emphasized the "uncertanity" of aesthetic differentiation, and recognized that aesthetic value is the value of difference and individuality, thus becoming a new philosophical stream in western aesthetics.