On The Moral Criticism Of Art

Moral criticism, as a criticism of the longest history and the widest influence in both China and the West, has an important position in the history of art criticism. This dissertation makes a full comprehension and a deep analysis of moral criticism, aiming at illustrating its significance and value in the human society as well as putting the current moral criticism in a proper position.In the Introduction, this dissertation illustrates its significance and purpose, and gives a rough definition to the key words: art, moral, and moral criticism.In chapter 1, the author makes an exposition that the art of ancient time is people's instructor, which penetrates to every aspect of life, and the artist is the director in people's thinking. This paper also analyzes the primitive art's features and expounds that, moral criticism of art is the philosophical basis-people are sensible and moral, on which the philosophers make a sensible choice and exposit moral criticism from the point of human nature in order to establish an ideal social order in politics and morality.In chapter 2, several influential and representative moral criticism theories, such as those of Plato, Mozi, Aristotle, Horace and Confucius, are analyzed. This paper expounds that there are different moral connotations and moral standards because of different social ideals. Moral criticism is stagnant in form but fluid in content. In chapter 3, this paper exposes that the rulers accept and regulate moral criticism because of its role of solidifying the existing moral order. This paper explains the relation between moral criticism and art from the point of human history.In chapter 4, this paper illustrates the appearance of an artistic trend-art for art's sake, and analyzes its philosophical basis, the necessity of aesthetic criticism and textual criticism, as well as the dialectical relation between them.In chapter 5, this paper explains that art is of great importance in moral instruction in a society of fine social division of labor. Moral criticism is supposed to be treated with much attention. The artists and art critics should strengthen their sense in social responsibility.