A Study On The Evolution Of Hong Yiran's Aesthetic Thoughts

Hong Yiran, a prominent aesthetician of China in the 20th century. Based on the long term practice, he made a through study on the philosophy and aesthetics of pre-Qin Dynasty, and he adopted western aesthetic theory for reference, which was greatly influenced by Marxism aesthetics. The author has gathered some essays, which gradually developed a school of aesthetics, "setting up a simple aesthetic building". It is known as the representative of "Utilitarianism school" and "the forerunner of Mass Aesthetics".Tracing the development of Hong Yiran's aesthetic thoughts is a systematic arrangement of his academic research, and it is significant for us to learn about the modern development of Chinese aesthetic theory in the 20th century and the goal of modern aesthetic construction. Before touching upon this paper, the author made some preliminary research in Hong Yiran's aesthetics and some relevant questions. So this paper is based on the previous study results. It attempts, through detailed historical materials and ways of presenting his aesthetic thoughts, to analyze the development of his aesthetics through the following parts:Part I is about the cultural and philosophical background of the aesthetics, including Hong Yiran's life and some cultural and aesthetic influence on the formation of his aesthetics.Part II introduces his theory about "the objects and methods of aesthetic study". It falls into three sections: conception, construction, deepening stage.Part III studies Hong Yiran's aesthetic attitude evolution. From eternal change, it studies Hong Yiran's viewpoint about "What is beauty", "Where is beauty", "the essence of beauty and ugliness", "the forms and contents of beauty", and "the classification of beauty".Part IV traces Hong Yiran's aesthetic development, discussing Hong Yiran's aesthetics on "aesthetic sense", "the relationship between aesthetic feeling", and pleasant feeling", "the arising and development of aesthetic feeling", and so on.Part V introduces the practical period of his aesthetic theory, that is, his aesthetic education and artistic aesthetics, which is an inseparable part of his aesthetics. It is mainly about "the formation of his aesthetics", "the development of artistic aesthetics" and his works The Mass Aesthetics.In addition, this paper includes "Hong Yiran's biographical sketch", serving as reference for the study.Since Hong Yiran's aesthetic system is made up of "on aesthetics", "on beauty", "on aesthetic sense", "on aesthetic education" and "on artistic aesthetics", we pay much more attention to the link and difference among them. In fact, this system is both a demonstration of Hong Yian's aesthetic thought evolution and the presentation of his academic style, showing the general feature of Hong Yiran's aesthetics.