The Relocation Of General Art Studies In The Discipline Of Art Studies

Since the notion of "general art studies" was proposed by Max Dessoir in 1906, during the long period of over one hundred years, the development of art studies is full of twist and turns, obstacles and even retrogression. Nowadays, as art is more and more closely connected with our life and society, researches of the art studies are also blossoming. In China, since art studies has become an independent discipline in 2011, "theory of art studies", as a first class discipline, has also become the focus of the studies accordingly. However, related aspects including the naming, research objects, research content and importance have aroused intensive discussion. With the prosperous development of multicultural society and the variety of the forms of art, the conflicts between the theory of art studies and practice are also aggravating.As Kahlil Gibran once said, we should not forget why we embarked, even when we already walked too far. Looking back into the history when "general art studies" were firstly forwarded 100 years ago, the birth was of great importance academically. However for some reasons, "general art studies" often remain either in name only or in reality only, and the notion has hardly been spread and known as it should have been. This has thus provided us a new perspective to solve the disciplinary problems of the theory of art studies. Meanwhile, on demand of the development of our society and the discipline, "general art studies" shall be reconstructed to surpass the tradition and meet the need and challenges of our times. Proposed firstly by Kuhn, the theory of paradigm refers to the theoretical basis and practical guidelines of general science. Once forwarded, "paradigm" has been widely used in the research of natural science, philosophy, humanistic science and social science, as well as in the study of literature and aesthetics. However, despite the wide adoption as an approved effective guideline in various disciplines, no research of theory of art studies can be found using paradigm theory. The thesis therefore considers paradigm as a way and method of human cognition, and applied it for the analysis of general art studies. In this thesis, the paradigm theory is applied to review the development of the theory of art studies and also as the solution to tackle the existing problem. With a comprehensive research and analysis of general art studies, a new method for the innovation of theory of art studies is suggested:back to general art studies. As the paradigm of the theory of art studies, general art studies are the combination of both necessity and feasibility.The re-examination and relocation of general art studies in the discipline of art studies is not only the innovation of general art studies proposed by Dessoir, but also a practical thesis suitable for the demand of the disciplinary system and disciplinary construction in China. "Back to" general art studies doesn’t mean to return on the old way, but to be back "exceedingly" and to "reconstruct". With the adoption of the classical meta-theory in the west, the focus on classical ancient Chinese art theories and the review on modern arts, the process will bring new life to "general art studies" in the disciplinary system in China.In this thesis, as the first attempted explorative research of art studies, paradigm theory is applied for the analysis of the theory of art studies, and the general art studies are reviewed from the disciplinary perspective with a comprehensive interpretation of its concept. Besides, other notions, such as to review the art relation as the logical start of the general art studies, are also forwarded in the thesis.