| "German classical aesthetics" has always been an important topic in aesthetic research.Although German classical aestheticians all discuss "natural beauty" in their aesthetics,the views of natural beauty in German classical aesthetics has received far less attention than its views of artistic beauty.Some aestheticians believe that with the development of German classical aesthetics,artistic beauty was the only one to be emphasized.Adorno points out in Aesthetic Theory that since Schelling,aesthetic interest has centered on artworks.After Hegel,the discussion of natural beauty does fall into a state of relative silence in aesthetics.It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that natural beauty was once again brought into focus by aestheticians with the rise of Western environmental aesthetics.When people begin to reflect on the loss of "natural beauty" in aesthetics,they trace the cause of this phenomenon to German classical aesthetics.Even though Kantian aesthetics focuses on natural beauty,in the eyes of contemporary environmental aestheticians,Kant’s disinterested appreciation of nature is not a real appreciation of nature.In short,a number of reasons have led to the impression that German classical aesthetics has suppressed,or even neglected,natural beauty.With its emphasis on reason and freedom,German classical aesthetics does exalt art.But every representative of German classical aestheticians discusses natural beauty in their aesthetics to a greater or lesser extent.And,as can be found through exploration,natural beauty plays an important role in their aesthetics.It can be said that German classical aesthetics does not ignore natural beauty while exalting artistic beauty.German classical aesthetics was born in its own time.In its own specific context of historic time,the "natural beauty" of German classical aesthetics has unique meanings that are different from the standard of today.Based on the context of historic time of German classical aesthetics,this paper explores the real connotations of "natural beauty"in this period,analyses the development trend of the theory of natural beauty in this period,and strives to restore the real appearance of "natural beauty" of German classical aesthetics,so as to give it a proper evaluation.This paper consists of three parts:introduction,main text and conclusion.The introduction first introduces the research significance.Contemporary academia’s evaluation of "natural beauty" of this period is biased.Instead of saying that German classical aesthetics ignores natural beauty,it is better to say that the natural beauty with unique meanings in German classical aesthetics is ignored and misunderstood.Therefore,this paper aims to systematically explore the real connotations of "natural beauty" and the development trend of the theories of natural beauty in this period.Secondly,this section examines and analyses the current status of related research at home and abroad.With the return of "natural beauty",foreign scholars’ attentions to natural beauty of German classical aesthetics are often accompanied by critical voices.But in the domestic academic circles,because of the cultural traditions of discussing natural beauty in the ontological sense of "Tao",domestic scholars are more receptive to the transcendental natural beauty of German classical aesthetics.They actively explore the views of natural beauty of each German classical aesthetician,but the relevant researches are relatively negligent in systematically exploring the views of natural beauty in this period from a holistic perspective.Finally,this section clarifies the research methods,structure and innovations of this paper.This paper does not analyse the views of natural beauty of these aestheticians one by one with the clue of time.On the basis of close reading of texts and contextualization,this paper grasps the relationship between the transcendent natural "beauty" and "truth" and "good" in German classical aesthetics,and takes"beauty-truth-good" as a clue to exhaustively list out the three dimensions of natural beauty in this period.Within these three levels of analysis,this paper adopts the methods of comparative study and impact study.The main text of this paper is divided into six chapters.Chapter 1 is background research.This chapter explores the background in which German classical aesthetics developed the theories of natural beauty.This chapter consists of three sections.The first section teases out the views of nature in pre-German classical philosophy.It is pointed out in this section that it was with the continuous development of reason that"nature",which was a whole in ancient Greece,gradually split into two dimensions:the "spiritual world" and the "material world".The concept of "nature" also gradually developed the dual connotations of "essence" and "natural objects".In this context,Gennan classical philosophy and aesthetics were born.The complexity of the concept of nature also lays the groundwork for the diversified discussion of nature-related issues.The second section examines natural beauty in pre-German classical aesthetic thoughts.Since ancient Greece,people had held two very different attitudes towards "natural beauty".This difference is the result of people exploring natural beauty at different levels.The third section analyses the birth of German classical aesthetics and the general characteristic of its natural beauty.German classical aesthetics is born out of German classical philosophy,which shoulders the mission of communicating the"material word" and the "spiritual word".Therefore,on the one hand,the theories on natural beauty of German classical aesthetics absorbs the ideas of "picturesque" as theoretical resources,and on the other hand,it inevitably possesses the transcendence in the context of the times.The transcendence is key to understand the real connotations of "natural beauty" in this period.Chapters 2,3 and 4 are the main body of the main text.This section specifically analyses the connotations of "natural beauty" in German classical aesthetics from three dimensions.Chapter 2 focuses on the most basic connotation of "natural beauty".It examines natural beauty as an aesthetic object in German classical aesthetics.The chapter is divided into three sections.The first section presents the development trend of the theory of natural beauty in this period based on the analysis of each German classical aestheticians’ views of natural beauty.At the beginning of German classical aesthetics,the philosopher Kant and the poet Goethe made "natural beauty" reach its peak through theoretical analysis and practical appreciation respectively.Untill Schelling and Hegel,"the philosophy of art" has become almost synonymous with their aesthetics,but this does not mean that they ignore natural beauty.Thus,the second section focuses on the views of natural beauty of Schelling and Hegel,seeking to prove that "natural beauty" is an integral part of German classical aesthetics.Although Schelling and Hegel highlight artistic beauty,they also affirm natural beauty from the standpoint of "the identity philosophy" and "dialectics" respectively.The third section analyses the prominent characteristic of natural beauty in this period,namely spiritualization.Although spiritualized natural beauty and its aesthetic ways have the limitations of the times,it not only presents the aesthetic truth that appreciating nature should be the unity of the subject and the object,but also distinguishes aesthetic judgment into two types:"judgement of the beautiful" and "judgement of the sublime"in the context of spiritualization.The division of these two types is significant for the appreciation of nature.Chapter 3 focuses on the communication between "beauty" and "truth" in German classical aesthetics,and explores the second connotation of "natural beauty" in this period.This connotation of natural beauty is mainly reflected in the relationship between natural beauty and artistic beauty.Although the German classical aesthetics highlights artistic beauty,its artistic beauty is closely related to its natural beauty.From different perspectives,German classical aestheticians either directly or indirectly proves that art should be an imitation of nature.Moreover,under the connection of"beauty" and "truth",German classical aesthetics breaks through the traditional imitation theory.This chapter is divided into three sections.The first section focuses on Kant.Schiller,Goethe and Schelling.It explores the ways in which each of them enriches the proposition that "art comes from nature".The second section notes that these aestheticians simultaneously emphasizes the transcendence of art over nature.This section focuses on Hegelian aesthetics.With his emphasis on the primacy of the spirit.Hegel is a typical representative of the idea that "art transcends nature".For Hegel,"art transcends nature" is closely related to the division of his three artistic types,and thus to the structure of his entire aesthetic system.But his views of artistic beauty bases on "art transcends nature" presents three contradictions,which can prove from the opposite side that art does not come from spirit,but from nature.The third section points out that in the communication between"beauty" and "truth",German classical aesthetics presents another relationship between art and nature in particular:art comes from nature,and art can in turn promote the development of science.Chapter 4 focuses on the communication between "beauty" and "good" in German classical aesthetics,and explores the third connotation of "natural beauty" in this period.This connotation is mainly reflected in the relationship between natural beauty and human nature.In the connection with moral goodness,"natural beauty" in German classical aesthetics has a deeper meaning and value:it not only means the beautiful natural objects,but also refers to the state of human nature that human beings once had in childhood,when people regarded nature as home and dwelt in it.German classical aesthetics is a spiritual remedy prescribed by German philosophers to solve serious social problems.In the thirst and pursuit of the integrity of human nature,German classical aesthetics can be seen as a spiritual homecoming."natural beauty" is the result of their pursuit in spiritual homecoming,and appreciation of nature is an important way for people’s spiritual homecoming.This chapter is divided into three sections.The first chapter of this paper points out the philosophical foundation of German classical aesthetics from "beauty" to "freedom",and the first section of this chapter adds the aesthetic foundation and social reality foundation of German classical aesthetics from"beauty" to "freedom".In addition,this section distinguishes between two types of"freedom" in German classical aesthetics and summarizes them:one is the integrity of human nature,and the "freedom" in this sense is also directly called "nature" by some German classical aestheticians,especially Schiller;the second is moral freedom.The second section specifically examines how "appreciation of nature" and "natural beauty"in German classical aesthetics are linked to the integrity and naturalness of humanity,and how they contribute to the cultivation of human morality.The third section argues that the desire of German classical aestheticians for "natural beauty" does not mean a betrayal of civilization.Their aim is to cultivate a kind of citizen who has full humanity and morality to create real civilization.Chapters 5 and 6 are influence researches.They respectively explore the influence of the views of natural beauty in German classical aesthetics on literature and aesthetics.Chapter 5 focuses on the German early romanticism group,seeking to explore the influence of German classical aesthetics on the nature writing of Romanticism.This chapter is divided into two sections.The first section analyses the reasons for Romanticism’s writing about nature.Although Romanticism’s emphasis on nature and writing about nature is promoted by social reasons and so on,German classical aesthetics is an important theoretical resource in the theoretical construction of Romanticism by German Romanticism.This section explores what kinds of theoretical bases the views of natural beauty in German classical aesthetics provide for nature writing of Romanticism from the aspects of "expressing content" and "expressing way".The second section explores the three characteristics of "nature" in Romanticism,and analyses the influence of the views of natural beauty in German classical aesthetics on these characteristics.Chapter 6 examines the aesthetic repercussions of the views of natural beauty of German classical aesthetics in Western academic circles and reflects on them.This chapter contains two sections.The first section summarizes the aesthetic repercussions caused by the views of natural beauty of German classical aesthetics in Western academic circles.As time goes by,scholars’ attitudes towards the views of natural beauty of this period roughly show a trend from "ignoring" to "noticing" to "criticizing".Considering the continuity of the development of theories on natural beauty,it can be said that the emergence and development of Western environmental aesthetics is based on the criticism and transformation of German classical aesthetics,especially Kant’s aesthetics.As reflections,the second section covers three parts.The first part defends the views of natural beauty of German classical aesthetics.This part attempts to analyse the reasons for the unfair treatment of the views of natural beauty in German classical aesthetics from five aspects,and then justifies the views of natural beauty in German classical aesthetics from four perspectives.The second part reflects on the critiques of German classical aesthetics by Western environmental aesthetics,pointing out that some of the critiques of German classical aesthetics by Western environmental aesthetics actually stem from the environmental aesthetician’s misreading of the German classical aesthetics.And these theoretical misunderstandings cause dilemmas in both the theory and the practice of environmental aesthetics.The third part digs into the contemporary values of classical thoughts.This part explores the theoretical inspirations of the views of natural beauty of German classical aesthetics to the construction of contemporary natural aesthetics.Since German classical aesthetics constructs the inner logic between natural beauty and morality in a transcendental context,the views of natural beauty of German classical aesthetics can not only correct theoretical misunderstandings of contemporary environmental aesthetics in terms of epistemology,but also provide a key inspiration for the construction of contemporary theories on natural beauty from "natural beauty" and "environmental beauty" to "ecological beauty" in terms of ontology and axiology.Finally.there is the conclusion.Based on above research contents,this part firstly reaffirms that while German classical aesthetics exalts artistic beauty,it does not ignore natural beauty,and emphasizes that German classical aesthetics develops the theories of natural beauty differently from today’s standard in the unique context of the times.Secondly,the conclusion looks ahead the future of the study,pointing out that,at a time when ecological environment problems need to be solved urgently,the views of natural beauty of German classical aesthetics should be paid more attention.Those inspirations provided to us by German classical aesthetics should be implemented in environmental protection and the construction of ecological civilization in conjunction with Marx’s historical materialism and practical theory.Finally,the section reflects on the shortcomings of this study. |
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