从主体性到客体性:卡尔森环境美学对传统自然美学的批判与突破

From Subjectivity to Objectivity: Criticism and Breakthrough of Carlson's Environmental Aesthetics to Traditional Natural Aesthetics

西方传统自然美学具有浓重的“主体性”色彩:自然本身没有审美价值,之所以将其判断为“美的”,是因为它的某种特性符合人类(感官层面或精神层面)的审美需要。这种观念不仅使得自然美学沦为人类意志的附庸,失去独立存在的意义与价值,而且造成人与自然关系的紧张,加剧生态危机。卡尔森提倡“客体性”转向,即建立一种“以客体为导向”的审美欣赏理论:以“自然本身及其真实属性”为研究对象、以“如其本然地欣赏自然”为研究方法、以“对自然之内在价值的深入理解与自觉尊重”为研究目标。这种理论不仅符合美学之重建的要求,能够为自然美学的合法性提供理论依据,而且符合环境保护论的要求,使得自然环境美学能够成为环境伦理学的坚实基础,因而是一条恰当的自然审美路径。

Western traditional natural aesthetics has a strong color of“subjectivity”:nature itself lacks aesthetic value.The reason why it is judged as“beautiful”is that its certain characteristics are in line with the aesthetic needs of human beings(sensory level or spiritual level).This kind of concept not only makes natural aesthetics become a vassal of human will and lose the meaning and value of independent existence,but also causes the tension between humans and nature and intensifies the ecological crisis.Carlson advocates“objectivity”,namely,the establishment of an“object-oriented aesthetic appreciation theory”—“the nature itself and its factual attributes”as the research object,“appreciating the nature on its own terms”as the research method,and“deeply understanding and consciously respecting the intrinsic value of the nature”as the research goal.This theory not only meets the requirements of aesthetic reconstruction and can provide the theoretical basis for the legitimacy of natural aesthetics,but also meets the requirements of environmental protection theories,so that natural environmental aesthetics can become a solid foundation of environmental ethics.Thus,it is an appropriate path of natural aesthetics.