Art Experience, In The Perspective Of Philosophical Hermeneutics

This essay is based on Gadamer's Philosophical Hermeneutics. Philosophical Hermeneutics was an ontological philosophy. In the horizon of Philosophical Hermeneutics, the experience of art had two roles. Firstly, the experiences of art formed the starting point which Philosophy Hermeneutics criticized the traditional epistemology and made many philosophical problems to be rethought in Philosophical Hermeneutics. Secondly, in the new ontology of Philosophical Hermeneutics, the knowledge of the experience of art changed much, which made the experience of art in the horizon of Philosophical Hermeneutic different from the knowledge of art in the traditional epistemology.Philosophical Hermeneutics' noumenon was tradition or language. The tradition decided Dasein. Language constituted the ontological background of Dasein. In this background, what Philosophical Hermeneutics looked for was how Dasein could be conscious of that he was determined by this background and through this consciousness, made Dasein know that he was a Dasein which was here and was determined by tradition and Being. This was a process of hermeneutic experience. The essence of hermeneutic experience was that we were conscious that we ourselves were a finite and historical being and because of this, we sould open to the new experience through the understanding that we were determined by tradition and being. Through this openness, the tradition which determined Dasein could be likely to change itself, which made the ontology change.In the hermeneutic experience, Philosophical Hermeneutics advanced the idea of Heidegger's world and globe. It thought: there were two kinds of hermeneutic experience. One was the hermeneutic experience in daily life whose characteristic was that it had a definitude useful aim. In this aim, the thing was something that was in Dasein's horizon of a useful aim. In the process, something had its being because it had been used for a useful aim. So, the being of something was based on Dasein's plan. Dasein's plan thus became the base which things had their being. Then, being was advanced to Dasein. So, the base of what things had their being could be advanced to Dasein's world. It was tradition and language that constituted Dasein's world from which Dasein could plan a useful aim and make things have their being. That is, Dasein's world, which was determined by tradition and language, constituted the basic of being. But the world must close itself because as soon as the world showed itself, Dasein's horizon then would notice the world itself and could not plan an aim freely. So,the daily life, which was directed by the useful aim, was based on the world and the globe—the world closed itself. Because the world closed itself in the daily life, the basic of being of things could not be known by Dasein. And because of the unconsciousness of the world, the being had no power to extend and develop itself. Philosophical Hermeneutics thought that only Dasein had a definitude effective historical consciousness could he be conscious of the idea of world and the being and tradition change. The other hermeneutic experience was the experience of art, the experience in daily life which based on a world and its closeness was directed by a useful aim, it was a plan along a world, whereas in the experience of art, the main aim of work of art was not a useful aim, but present itself, that is, brought itself a full presence. So, the experience of art was not a plan directed by a useful aim and based on aworld, but in this experience, the basic of things —a world-------appeard and the closenessof the world—the globe—appeard at the same time because there was not a useful aim in these actions. In other word, Dasein not only felt that he was living in a world, but also knew that this world closed itself in the useful aim. Art was a way that the world appeared. That is to say, if the experience in daily life was an action based on a world and globe and was a plan along the world, the experience of art was an experience which Dasein stood in a world. It was a reverse structure. Through the experience of art, Dasein felt a world, knew that it was determined by tradition and being, and was conscious of that he was a limited and historical being. In the end, Dasein knew that he should open himself for new experiences in the finite consciousness, which formed the cycle of hermeneutic experience. In this cycle, tradition and being could be changed and developed.The way that play had its being explained how the art had its being. The experience which a play engulfed Dasein proved that the experience of art was an experience which Dasein underwent but not an experience that Dasein did on his own initiative. Philosophical Hermeneutics brought forward that the experience of art was an experience that the whole of Dasein was attracted by the artistic work on the base of the criticism of aesthetic differentiation. This experience was based on being, not on the differentiation between subject and object. The Aesthetics in the epistemology was subjective aesthetics and could not account for itself. The artistic work was a structure and only a semi-finished article. When an artistic work was set up, it appealed for being enjoyed, being finished or being present. The artistic work was like something in a symbol, every half was appealing for the other. This intention manifested that the aim of an artistic work was not a useful one, but an aim that present itself. The Grecian ideas such as making, something made and work ect, had influenced the way that artistic work had its being. The way that the artistic work had its being offered a preconditionand preparation for Dasein's encountering the artistic work. When Dasein encountered the artistic work, he was attracted in the content which the artistic work said and entered the matter which it said. Thus, in this involvement, Dasein who encountered artistic work experienced his own world in a surprised way and aroused an opening power for new experience, which formed an ontologically developing power.The essence of art was that it was an ontological affair in which Dasein felt his world through the experience of art. So art as an ontological affair offered knowledge to being. The character of this kind of knowledge was the structure of "as" which make something as something whose essence was a world. What the experience of art offered was the recognition to the world. But how was this world shaped? The experience of art showed its importance in the world's shaping. The experience of art was the experience of the world itself and in this experience the power of ordering in human spirit could be seen. Through this power of ordering, all the being outside human could enter order. The experience of art was to contact with the power of ordering directly.The temporal structure of the experience of art showed that the being really changed itself. Philosophical Hermeneutics considered that only being changed was there real time. In the experience of art, the world entered into the consciousness, at that time, there was real time. In the plan with a useful aim, time had its being for the aim. So, for Dasein, time was the tool for the aim but not as itself. At the end, being could not change. In the experience of art, the whole of Dasein was absorbed in the being of art and he lingered in the experience. It was not a forward plan. It was not for a useful aim, so world and globe appeared. At that time, there was real time. This lingering made the whole of Dasein to be absorbed in the being of art. The whole was determined by the tradition and being. Thus, the lingering in the experience of art formed the ontological power.The experience of art contributed to human's exploring of truth. The contribution which the experience of art had to the view of truth was that it made Philosophical Hermeneutics doubt and challenge the traditional view of truth, especially the epistemological view of truth. Philosophical Hermeneutics thought the epistemological view of truth was based on the subject's metaphysics and could not account for itself. The traditional view of truth then lost its truth on the ground. Philosophical Hermeneutics thought that when the base of being—world— was felt, the base that things have their being could be understood and that when the world was felt being could be changed. That formed the openness of the being which formed truth. The experience of art was the foundational point that truth happened..The status of Philosophical Hermeneutics' theory of the experience of art in the western aesthetic history was that it was ontological but it had a strong anthropologicalcharacter. From the flow of the whole western aesthetic history, Philosophical Hermeneutics inherited the dialectic factor which Kant found and looked for the foundational reason of the beauty in the single person and forever. The relationship between the single world and the order of forever in the experience of art was the reason of beauty. At the same time, Philosophical Hermeneutic theory of the experience of art represented the fusion of western super organic dialectic aesthetic and under organic aesthetic on the base of being.The limitation of Philosophical Hermeneutics was that it made the consciousness which knew the base of being—the world—as its ontological power. This strongly acted against the practical spirit in Marxism and represented Philosophical Hermeneutics' essence of fantasy.Philosophical Hermeneutic theory of the experience of art inspired our contemporary literature and art. Firstly, how did people encounter the art? Philosophical Hermeneutics demonstrated that this encountering was an experience absorbed by the artistic work. It was a passive experience but not initiative one. Secondly, the essence of the experience of art was an experience of interfusion but not an experience based on the differentiation. Thirdly, Philosophical Hermeneutics offered us a new thinking way to think aesthetics.