中国古代自然范畴的审美内涵

An Aesthetic Approach to the Nature in Ancient China

自然之所以成为中国古代审美文化的一个重要范畴,是因为它包含了自由这一内涵。在中国古代文献的绝大多数语境中,自然都不具有现代汉语中的“自然”的“自然界”这一义项。现代汉语中的“自然”的“自然界”这一义项在中国古代由天、地、万物等概念来分别承担。中国古代文献中的自然大多取《老子》和《庄子》中的自然的内涵。此一自然的内涵学术界大多数学者都解释为“自己如此”。这是古代中国人对自然的最基本的规定。就自然是按其本性自己如此而言,自然实际上就是自己决定自己,就是自由。

As this paper states, nature is an important category in the ancient Chinese aesthetic judg-ment only because it has the connotation of liberty. In the context of most ancient Chinese documents, nature does not contain the intension of the 'natural world' in contemporary Chinese. Compared with the connotation of the 'natural world' in contemporary Chinese,'the connotation of 'nature' has the same concepts of 'heaven', 'earth' and 'all things on earth' in ancient China.In the ancient Chinese documents, the-connotation of 'nature' was often developed from the works of Laozi and Zhuangzi, which meant 'of one-self' by most scholars in the academic circles,and this is the basie stipulation granted by the ancient Chinese. As to its natural instincts, nature is the one that is decided by itself, namely, it is liberty.