British Empirical Aesthetics In The 18～(th) Century And The Origin Of Aesthetic Disinterestedness

It was usually considered by Chinese academy that the publication of Aesthetica by Baumgarten in 1750 was the date of important historical events, which founded a subject of sense. It was also considered that it was Immanuel Kant that first put forward aesthetic disinterestedness, which separated aesthetics from religion and metaphysics. So the ancient German Aesthetics was just taken for the origin of modern Aesthetics. In the view of subjective inner ethos of modernity, it is not the differentiation and independence of aesthetics but the advance of aesthetics disinterestedness, the modern aesthetic attitude, is a profound and historical change. More over, it was not Immanuel Kant that first held up aesthetic disinterestedness in fact. The idea was first represented by British empirical estheticians in the 18th century. The point of view on the origin of modern aesthetics should be reconsidered. And the status and influence of British empirical estheticians should be revalued.This paper mainly puts the origin and development of aesthetic disinterestedness in order. During the pre-modern times, someone had thought that beauty differed from goodness, such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas. But in their eyes, beauty was the copy of metaphysical ontology or the copy of the God. Beauty still was not a temporary sense. So their attitudes toward beauty were not really aesthetic disinterestedness. Anthony Ashley Cooper Shaftesbury III, the 18th century esthetician, first brought up the ideas of aesthetic disinterestedness in terms of subject and sense. When the exit of the God and the rise of self-discipline of rationality, in his views, feeling became the standards of moral. Shaftesbury called this feeling moral sense, which was an intuition by inner sense. At the same time, the sense of beauty was also an intuition. When he broke away from metaphysics, the aesthetic disinterestedness was brought up. Under the influence of Shaftesbury, other British empirical estheticians, such as Francis Hutcheson, Joseph Addison, David Hume, Edmund Burke, proposed aesthetic disinterestedness in succession. Hutcheson also thought the sense of beauty was an intuition, just like the moral sense. Joseph Addison thought the sense of beauty was pleasant sensation imagined. David Hume argued that the sense of beauty was associated with sympathy. At the same time, Hume replaced the foundation of beauty with interest and imaginary.Edmund Burke drew a clear dividing line between beauty and function. He also placed the foundation of beauty on interest and imagination, not on rationality. So far, it has formed the distinct thought that beauty having nothing to do with interest. Under the influence British empirical of aesthetics, Immanuel Kant established aesthetic disinterestedness as an aesthetic principle. Later some thinkers formed special aesthetic attitude theory represented by Arthur Schopenhauer. The basic feature of aesthetic attitude theory emphasized ignoring the objects, and regulating one's own psychological condition to be disinterested. The aesthetic experience according to the theory just required the watching way of the subject to be disinterested.The rise of aesthetic disinterestedness theory must be studied on background of modernity. The time view of lining motivated beauty to be a sense of subject. To separate aesthetics away from metaphysics and religion is a course of disenchantment, which linked closely with rationalization caused by natural science. It also embodied the Characteristic of a course of science, morals and art dividing into different field on the condition of modernity, just as Habermas had said about modernity. Western Marxist thought the independence of aesthetics was connected with the change of the social mode of production and capitalist in terms of social structure.This paper tracing back the origin of aesthetic disinterested is to rectify the view about the statures and contributions of British Empirical Aesthetics in the 18th century. On the other hand, this paper explained the course of aesthetic indepe...