拒绝装饰:以马克思生活美育思想为视角

Rejecting Decoration:From the Perspective of Marx’s Thought on Life Aesthetic Education

近现代以来,中国经历的三次美育思潮是一个逐渐向生活贴近的思想过程。不过,即使在当下的第三次美育思潮与实践中,由于没理顺美育与生活实践的关系,依然存在美育与艺术教育不分、教育主体高高在上、职业教育等同于技术教育等现象。按马克思生活美育思想的逻辑,若将美育等同于艺术教育,美育非但会成为生活的装饰,还会在现代社会滋生出前现代社会的阶层关系,所以美育要在生活中起到切实的作用,须走出艺术教育的狭窄圈子,遵循“美的规律”的论述,在广阔的生活领域,特别是在物质生产生活内部确认审美元素的存在。第一个审美元素是物质生产生活的自主性,让生活活动本身成为目的,而不是膜拜审美教育者在生活之外设立的某种审美理想。第二个审美元素是培育生活诸多领域全面发展的人,而不是离开某种职业就无法生存的片面的人。从现代生产生活入手改变人的生存状况,进而改变人的精神境遇,从中体验自主、自由、全面的生活之美,是马克思生活美育思想的基本路径。

The three waves of thinking about aesthetic education in China since modern times are a process of thought that gradually draws closer to life.However,even in the current third wave of aesthetic education thought and practice,there are still phenomena such as the lack of distinction between aesthetic education and artistic education,the superiority of educational subjects and the equation of vocational education with technical education,due to the failure to straighten out the relationship between aesthetic education and life practice.According to the logic of Marx’s thought on aesthetic education of life,if aesthetic education were to be equated with art education,it would not only become a decoration of life,but also breed the class distinction of pre-modern society in modern society.Therefore,in order for aesthetic education to play a practical role in life,it is necessary to get out of the narrow circle of art education,follow the“law of beauty”,and confirm the existence of aesthetic elements in a broad field of life,especially within material production life.The first aesthetic element is the autonomy of materially productive life,which regards life activities themselves as ends,rather than worshipping a certain aesthetic ideal established by aesthetic educators outside life.The second aesthetic element is the development of a well-rounded person in many areas of life,instead of a one-sided person who cannot survive without a certain profession.It is the basic path of Marx’s idea of aesthetic education of life to change people’s living condition from modern production and life,and then change people’s spiritual situation,from which one can experience the beauty of an independent,free and comprehensive life.