Beauty And Existence-On John Ruskin’s Aesthetics

John Ruskin(1819-1900)was a British aesthetic philosopher,art critic,and social activist in the 19 th century.In the rapidly developing industrialization of the 19 th century,he hoped to use aesthetic thinking to resist the impact of industrial capitalism on human life and attempted to rebuild social ethical order.The theoretical sources of Ruskin’s aesthetics are diverse,among which the most crucial are British natural theology and empirical aesthetic tradition.Influenced by natural theology,Ruskin abandoned evangelical belief and instead questioned the essence of the world and existence from a more rational perspective.He took the cosmic order advocated by natural theology as the foundation of the world,and what conforms to this order is “beauty”;and “truth” is the accurate expression of this order.“Nature” is the concrete form of this order and is the typical beauty that humans can perceive.All life activities are driven by this order,fully realizing their own life functions,which is the beauty of life.In addition,Ruskin’s concept of “morality” is the adherence to this order,so life activities should naturally be moral.It is in this sense that he criticized the immorality of industrial capitalism and the lack of aesthetic sense in commercialized artworks.Ruskin believed that good artworks could reflect the divine order by depicting nature vividly and could also vividly display the vitality of life.Using this as a criterion,he explored the issue of the utility of art.In his early works,Ruskin emphasized “the uselessness of art” because he believed that utilitarian art could not accurately present life experiences.However,in his later writings,he emphasized “the usefulness of art ”because art bears the responsibility of enhancing the moral sense of the public and improving the social ethical situation.Thus,he transformed the concept of “the picturesque”,originally proposed by William Gilpin,by adding a moral dimension and concerns for life to it.Whether Ruskin advocated the usefulness or uselessness of art,it is undeniable that he closely linked art to the human condition.In this way,it is not difficult to understand his turn towards political economy and social criticism.Ruskin’s aesthetics and his political economy and social reform ideas are two sides of the same coin.His aesthetics interprets the world in an aesthetic way,while his political economy and social reform ideas are the concrete practice of his aesthetic concepts.Based on aesthetic concern for life,Ruskin led the trend of art development,promoted social and cultural changes,and expanded the theoretical dimensions of aesthetics,giving aesthetics a philosophical significance of existential theory.However,he also faced difficult theoretical problems that were hard to overcome,such as the coordination between aesthetics and philosophy,the conflict between medievalism and modern culture,and the inherent conflicts of aesthetic politics.Nevertheless,the challenges Ruskin faced were general philosophical problems,which indicate that his thinking extended to the pursuit of fundamental existential issues,and his theoretical value is always worth further exploration.