The Concept Of Western Ecological Harmony

Harmonious Aesthetics is one of the most important achievements of Chinese contemporary aesthetics.It takes “harmony” as the common aesthetic ideal of mankind,and regards the history of Chinese and Western aesthetics development as a process from ancient harmony,modern sublimity to modern dialectical harmony.After the rise of ecological aesthetics,harmonious aesthetics has undergone an “ecological turn”.This dissertation attempts to explore the ecological dimension in Western aesthetics according to the eco-aesthetic view,taking the ecological harmony ideal in Western aesthetics as a clue,and evaluates its theoretical value and practical significance.This dissertation consists of introduction,conclusion and seven chapters.The first chapter,“An Introduction to Ecological Harmony”,proposes perspectives that can be referred to when analyzing the main trend of ecological harmony in the West.The second chapter and the third chapter mainly investigate the origin and content of the ideal of dependent harmony in the Western ancient times.The second chapter analyzes the harmony between man and god in ancient Greece and ancient Rome,discusses the ancient Greek philosophers’ understanding of the order of the universe and the relationship between man and nature.This chapter also preliminarily studies the concept of nature formed in the atmosphere of “the deification of man” in ancient Roman period,and introduces “Arcadia”,an idyllic image from the ancient Greek period and enhanced by Virgil.The third chapter discusses the concept of holy harmony in the Middle Ages,in which the relationship between man and nature mainly depended on the relationship between man and God.Augustine laid the ideological foundation of “God-given harmony”.Scholasticism provided space for the reform of the view of nature during the Renaissance,which was also a period of adjustment and decline of the view of holy harmony.The third chapter also discusses the mode of harmony between man and god constructed by the “chain of existence” in the Middle Ages.Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 mainly correspond to the stage of the concept of Competitive harmony in the modern Western period,which is also the stage of the emergence 、 establishment and prosperity of the Western capitalist system.After the rise of the Enlightenment in the 17 th and 18 th centuries,Western intellectuals built the edifice of subjectivity through the German classical aesthetics proposed by Kant and Hegel,while the theories of Darwin and Freud highlighted the nature of competition under biological characteristics,so this dissertation calls it “the concept of harmony of subjectivity” that expresses the characteristics of modern times,and discusses the “intersubjectivity” in the field of ecological harmony.As a supplement and correction to the concept of subjective harmony,Rousseau combined the beauty of nature with the goodness of God and put forward the idea of“returning to nature” based on the theory of conscience.British romanticism,American transcendentalism and Thoreau also contributed to the promotion of natural appreciation.This dissertation calls their related views “romantic harmony”,and discusses the “picturesque aesthetics” closely related to romanticism.Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 respectively discuss the Marxist criticism of ecological disharmony and the concept of symbiotic harmony in modern times.This dissertation refers to the Marxist view of ecological harmony based on the mode of production and social system,which is forward-looking and scientific,as the dialectical view of harmony.This chapter analyzes the thinking of Marx,Engels and ecological Marxism on ecological harmony,and discusses the “humanization of nature”.The concept of symbiotic harmony is the mainstream view of ecological harmony in the western world today.Gaia hypothesis and deep ecology have provided theoretical resources for the western concept of symbiotic harmony.Heidegger’s theory of “games between heaven and earth,gods and men in four directions” and “poetic habitation” can be seen as the initial form of the concept of symbiotic harmony.Scientific cognitivism and participation aesthetics have proposed possible approaches for the concept of symbiotic harmony from both subjective and objective aspects.Western contemporary ecological criticism is the concrete application of the concept of symbiotic harmony.The conclusion discusses that the western concept of ecological harmony needs to evolve to a higher level to reach the ideal state of holistic harmony,which is the next possible new stage.The innovation of the dissertation is : First,based on the aesthetic ecological view,this dissertation analyzes the evolution of Western aesthetics from the perspective of ecological harmony,and summarizes it into different stages such as dependent harmony,competitive harmony,and symbiotic harmony.The Western ecological harmony thought is further subdivided into the concept of harmony of man and god,the concept of holy harmony,the concept of romantic harmony,the concept of subjectivity harmony,the concept of dialectical harmony and the concept of symbiotic harmony.Secondly,this dissertation adopts a research method that integrates logic and history,theory and practice.It not only takes ecological harmony as the central category,pays attention to observing the evolution logic of Western aesthetics,but also puts the main trend of Western ecological harmony into social environment and cultural atmosphere for examination and identification.It not only pays attention to summarizing the content and characteristics of relevant aesthetic thoughts in Western history,but also considers the relationship between the main trend of ecological harmony at each stage and the artistic practice at that time.Thirdly,this dissertation links ecological harmony with state consciousness,national consciousness and other identities,highlights the relationship between various ecological harmony concepts,cultural construction and identity in Western history,and emphasizes that natural landscapes have become monuments that shape national identity and strengthen national consciousness.Finally,this dissertation observes the evolutionary logic of Western aesthetics from a contemporary Chinese standpoint,observes the history of Western aesthetics with the eco-aesthetic view formed in China and the ecological harmony theory proposed by Chinese scholars as a yardstick to observe the history of Western aesthetics.It combines Western aesthetics with Chinese vision to improve the depth of ideological and cultural exchanges between China and the West.