Research On Rousseau's Aesthetic Thoughts

Thinkers in the Enlightenment period were generally optimistic about the improvement of rationality and social progress,while Jean-Jacques Rousseau consciously reflected and criticized the enlightenment rationality and social progress,becoming the first western thinker to criticize the enlightenment modernity with aesthetic modernity,which marked an important turning point of western aesthetics.Rousseau had an insight into the dilemma of the split of the modern man in the civil society.From the perspective of the natural man,he is motivated by self-interest.From the perspective of the citizen,he has to undertake public obligations.Bourgeois' split between self-interest and justice and the alienated nature of anti-citizenship is the focus of Rousseau's criticism of modernity.Facing the double dissimilation of "good man" and "good citizen",Rousseau put forward the thought of natural education,trying to save modernity by promoting the virtue of the classical city,from cultivating the good man with free humanity to cultivating the good citizen with classical virtue so as to realize the unity of "good man" and "good citizen".Rousseau took the "state of nature" as the historical starting point of human beings and constructed a new moral and political order based on it.With the slogan of "returning to nature",he revealed that civilization is the alienation of nature.Rousseau's unique understanding of nature and civilization is not only a sign of his originality,but also the core of his aesthetic thought.For Rousseau,nature is not only a noble beauty,but also a spiritual refuge,taking on the responsibility of enlightening the soul and redeeming humanity.In the connection with nature,Rousseau alienated the "I" in the civilized society,looked at the world from a secular and natural perspective,and endowed the society and others with a new understanding and meaning,and then tried to realize the unity of "good man" and "good citizen" on the basis of "nature".In the 18 th century,the over-praise of reason by enlightenment thinkers led to the suppression of emotion by reason.Rousseau discussed the drawbacks of enlightenment reason earlier,advocated that the construction of morality should not be completely dominated by reason,and put forward the theory of moral emotion to criticize enlightenment reason and its social moral principles.From the perspective of civic education,he launched a trial of 18th-century French art and drama on moral grounds.At the same time,in Rousseau's works,emotion gained the value of independent existence independent of reason,and became a pursuit and expression of individual subjectivity and free humanity.Rousseau's aesthetics not only requires beauty and art according to ethical standards,emphasizes that "beauty" should be regulated by morality,but also advocates the emotional expression of art works,and acknowledges that "beauty" has its own logical way.This paradox fully reflects the inner contradiction of the western aesthetic paradigm in the transition period from the classical to the romantic.The ideal of dual education of "natural person" and "citizen" leads to the inevitable conflict of Rousseau's aesthetic education concept: on the one hand,in Rousseau's civic education,aesthetic education does not get the due attention,it seems that it can only provide the possibility for individuals to be immune from corruption in the social environment.On the other hand,in the education of natural persons,many of the educational methods and measures advocated by Rousseau are actually the content of aesthetic education.In Rousseau's own creative practice,aesthetic education itself also plays a very important role in the integrity and restoration of human nature.In the enlightenment upsurge of rational spirit,Rousseau regarded "freedom" as the supreme state of life which he pursued unswerving.Through Rousseau's experience and works,the solitary aesthetic reveries are Rousseau's attempt to return to nature and realize the harmony between nature and freedom.Through love,Rousseau achieved the connection with others and society,and also had a new understanding of others and society.Through the writing of philosophy,Rousseau,on the one hand,hid himself and gained the freedom and happiness of the lonely in his concealment.On the other hand,it keeps a certain distance from the real people and things,thus avoiding the direct participation in the social and political life,but achieving the goal of paying attention to politics.Through the above three aspects,Rousseau achieved the limited reconciliation of "good man" and "good citizen" on the basis of the harmony between nature and freedom.Rousseau's interpretation of the moral norms of human dignity and anthropological point of view all deeply influenced Kant,the pioneer of German classical aesthetics and founder of modern aesthetics,who took aesthetic as a bridge and mediation between cognitive activities and the moral practice,put forward the proposition of "beauty is the symbol of morality",and proved that the autonomy of art in Critique of Judgment for the first time.Rousseau's aesthetic taste of advocating natural beauty and emotional expression had a profound influence on romanticism.While criticizing the enlightenment reason,Rousseau's aesthetic thought shows the profound aesthetic modernity.The ecological wisdom embodied in Rousseau's naturalistic aesthetics helps us to ponder the relationship between man and nature.His theory of only moral art has important enlightenment to the moral construction of contemporary society.His aesthetic education thought contains rich life aesthetic thought,which has certain enlightening value for contemporary aesthetic education.The dual aesthetic ideals of "natural person" and "citizen" set Rousseau's aesthetic education thought full of internal contradictions and conflicts.Rousseau's literary and artistic views were strictly restricted by his moral and political thoughts,which in turn hindered the possibility of individual life creation.