From Body To Body Aesthetic Philosophy

Somaesthetics is a new term appearing in recent years. Sometimes it refers to a subject, and sometimes it means it an aesthetic term. However, it has brought great changes at home and abroad. Discussion on the body has experienced a conversion from the philosophical discourse conversion to the main talking about aesthetics. The conversion has brought not only the prosperous modern body discourse, but also the transformation and innovation on traditional aesthetics. As for the rationality of somaesthetics, it has historical basis of the body in aesthetics, also it can solve body problem in postmodern consumer society. Somaesthetics not only relates to physical issues, but also relates to the aesthetic matters. It runs through history and reality and connects with theory and practice. Therefore, interdisciplinary and multi-field research will contribute a lot to the development of aesthetics.From the view of body which presented in the state of postmodern knowledge, we will research the mode and pattern of somaesthetics, analyze underlying reasons of the formation and development at the present stage, and explore the internal logic of the transition from philosophy to the aesthetics. This essay set Shusterman’s somaesthetics as the starting and supporting point of the research, reflecting other relevant theories about somaesthetics and intending intend to delve into body issues under the context of post-modernism by the study of body aesthetics. As for the specific study, this essay attempts to reveal how somaesthetics appears from four aspects:mental and physical, experiential, artful, and practical.The whole thesis is divided into five chapters.The first chapter aims to discuss that somaesthetics is the reasonable results of logic evolution of body philosophy, so as to provide a macro view for somaesthetics and give it the reasonable positioning in body philosophy, at the same time, concrete analysis will be done in this chapter to discuss the the source of theory and the reasons of somaethetics generation. The emerge of somaesthetics benefits from the gradual perfection on body theory in philosophical development, and the potential body factors in aesthetic theory also brew bud. As a result, systematization and disciplinization are required in the discussion on body in aesthetic theory to meet the realistic need of aesthetics in postmodern context. The positioning of somaesthetics in body philosophy is reflected in that the emerge of somaesthetics conforms to the needs of the development of the times. Since modern times, different subjects have been set up breaking away from philosophy, and this is the context in which somaesthetics was born. Showing its unique features different from body philosophy, somaesthetics has formed as a comprehensive discipline combining theory with practice preliminarily. Aesthetics is not only generated in philosophy, it is also a path to philosophy. As aesthetics is to philosophy, somaesthetics not only conduces to the liberation of feelings and body care, and also can draw the attention to other people, social ethics and politics, so as to attain the aim of which philosophy pursuit, such as knowledge, self-knowledge, virtue, happiness and fairness.Pragmatism philosophy, western traditional philosophy and eastern traditional philosophy are the sources of three main theories which generate from somaesthetics. As theoretical source, their influence lay respectively in three dimensions:the analysis-somaesthetics, the pragmatism-somaesthetics and practical-somaesthetics.The appear of somaesthetics is the result of different factors interweaving in postmodern context, such as history and reality, social and personal. Among these factors, philosophy development, the reality of consumer society and individual academic accomplishment are major causes which generated from somaesthetics.Let’s take actual consumer society for example, new media in consumer society plays an important role in the born of somaesthetics, for it is not only an extension of the body organs, but bring about body crisis and also serves as a means to check the feasibility and necessity of somaesthetics.The second chapter mainly discusses somaesthetics and the relationship between body and mind. The issue of body-mind is the ontology matter of body philosophy and somaesthetics. In this chapter, specific analysis will be done about somaesthetics and the functionalist view on body-mind, the reason of physical and mental in which somaesthetics generated, the formation and characteristics of the view on body-mind of somaesthetics and the practical significance of the issue of body-mind of somaesthetics.Somaesthetics and the functionalist view on body-mind mainly embodied in:the classical pragmatism initiated the functionalist view on body-mind. While,as a representative of the language mentalism, Rorty advocated the theory cancelling of body-mind. Based on these views, Schusterman constructed his body-mind mechanism of somaesthetics with succession of the former and critique of the latter.The physical and mental reasons somaesthetics generated are summarized as follows: Many complex problems on human in philosophy study can be contracted to the issue of body and mind, such as human and object. Exploring for reasons of body and mind has certain representativeness. Binary, unity and imbalance of body-mind all promoted the appearance of somaesthetics to a certain extent.As the monism of body-mind, the characteristics of the view on body-mind of somaesthetics are to take the body as root and take the mind as its function. The relationship between body and mind has a variety of forms in history, the view on body-mind of somaesthetics just inherits to one of these forms. Classical pragmatism, phenomenology and cognitive science has a direct impact on the formation of the view on body-mind of somaesthetics.The research on the issue of body-mind of somaesthetics contributes to discipline construction and knowledge inheritance and also has guiding significance in terms of methodology and ontology.The third chapter is about somaesthetics and experiences:experience is one of the basic categories of pragmatic aesthetics. This chapter will mainly discuss the pragmatism and somatic experience, somaesthetics and somatic experience, life experience, and the ways to improve the somatic experience.Under the background of the legitimacy of the experience is challengeing of linguistics, we reveal the path of western experience’s development, points out that the emphasis on experience is a kind of trend of modern philosophy and aesthetics. And we discuss the important value of experience, e.g. it is a red line throughout the genealogy of body pragmatism.To be specific, somaesthetics is summary of the body pragmatism’s development. It reveals the aesthetics experience directly determines the body’s legitimacy by discussing body pragmatism, post-structuralism and phenomenology of somatic experience.Life experience has the significance for the body aesthetics. Life experience provides the necessary premise safeguard for somaesthetics; Life experience comforms to the aims of raising awareness, enhancing the purpose of pleasure, and the target of philosophy practice of somaesthetics. The reason why the interconversion between life experience and aesthetic experience, because experience has the continuous process, Experience can’t be replaced, and it only can be transformed and developed.The improvement of somaesthetics and Somatic experience is presented on the following aspects:experience has great aesthetic value, and pragmatism can be used for improvement, also it requires the continuous improvement of the experience itself. Therefore, searching for the ways of improving somatic experience becomes a problem needs to consider, and changing habitual body is certainly the preferred object.The fourth chapter mainly talks about the issue between somaesthetics and art, For the deficiency phenomenon of art and somaesthetics, we need to redefine the relationships between art, aesthetics and body, which are also the reasons for somaesthetic existing. I will analyze the somaesthetics, physiology of arts, artistic creation, acceptance and criticism, post-modern art and "art as experience" specifically.Physiology of arts is indispensable premise to somaesthetics. So to speak,discussing physiology of arts have great meaning for somaesthetic comparing and studying. Physiology of arts have completed modern transformation by somaesthetics, and the establishment of the somaesthetics can helps physiology of arts to dig the past art resources.The relationships between somaesthetics, creation of art, acceptance of art and criticism of art is:aesthetics and art are becoming more and more narrow, the body is closely related to art creation, art acceptance and criticism. From the angle of art, somaesthetics is necessary for birth:somaesthetics is able to deal with the plight of art discipline; somaesthetics can enhance the level of art acceptance; somaesthetics can guide the artistic creation.Postmodern arts blur the dividing line between subjects and surpass the grade limit of art, these characteristics fit the demands of the somaesthetics.The relationship between somaesthetics and "art as experience" is that somaesthetics inherits and develops a body’s natural viewpoint of Dewey’s "art as experience".The fifth chapter is about the somaesthetics and practical issues:practice is difficult to break away from a certain demand, that perhaps is the reason of imbalances of body ecological in the consumer society. Body practice provides the possibility to deal with crisis of body. As the theory of body, somaesthetics obviously can’t shy away from this topic.From theory to practice, it provides a historical perspective for the somaesthetics’s practice dimensions. It offers a clue which is from epistemology to practice, from theory to practice training.The causes of the body practice’s formation are presented through following ways: pragmatism had the characteristics of evolutionary itself, and body training is a better way to improve boy; The tradition of Health ethics can influence schusterman; Schusterman’s body practice, in turn, strengthens the practice, and examines the somaesthetics theory; Under the influence of consumer culture, the body becomes the consumption object so that the body maintenance especially receive attention.Body practice and consumer society is mainly reflected in:obvious phenomenon of consumer society is the propensity to consume in the visual symbolization and consumption, and body also can’t escape this kind of consumption form.Body becomes a lifeless symbol or image. And somaesthetics provides a project that can convert this problem, namely that the body practice contributed to the cultivation of the body inner experience.Physical practice and age phenomenon shows that age is relate to body, the relationship of two can not be avoided. At present academia body aesthetics and age of the phenomenon is relatively small, this situation should be changed. Further, it is necessary to highlight the body practice in age phenomenon significance.