On Beauty And Life

The text, considering the close relationship between life and beauty, mainly shows the importance of life in the study of aesthetics. Beauty lies in life. Life is the resource and also the homeland of beauty. The text, from different sides and angles, deals systematically with the beauty of life in art, life aesthetics, life and aesthectic activities as well as life and aesthetic edu- cation. It begins with the vigorous life in the kingdom of art, then probes deeply into the field of art theoiy, summarizes the viewpoint of life aesthetics in western countries and China to show that the base of aesthetics is life. The appreciation of beauty is the supreme needs of life, the transcending of life. Aesthetic education is an education of life and feeling. These two sides both proves deeply the close relationship between life and beauty. The text includes three parts. The first part擜rt桾he Form of Life, the Supreme Beauty攇oes on a pilgrimage of the biological phenomena in the field of art. All kinds of arts such as dance, penman- ship, sculpture, drawing, music proves that the works of art all express the vigor of life, beauty of life. What抯 more, art is an aesthetic creation. Art originates from the impulse of life and also promotes life, transcends the appreciation of beauty. Thus we can say ait is not only the form of life,but also contains the supreme beauty of life. Axt reflects the vigorous life aesthetically, directs life and realizes the transcending and distillation of life in the meanwhile. In the kingdom of art, we can enjoy fully the beauty of life. In the field of art theo- ry,we can also find that life has become the base of aesthetics. The second part?The Distillation of Theory桳ife Aesthetics?mainly deals with the viewpoint of life aes- thetics home and abroad. In western aesthetic history, life aesthetics originates from the early 19th century to the early 20th century and takes Schopehauer, Nietzsche, Dilthey and Bergson as their typical representatives. They all connect art creation with life activ- ities and consider art as a creative process of human life. They build their aesthetic the- ory system on the basis of life until Susan Longer puts forward that art is 搕he form of life?. In China, life aesthetics has even longer history . The six ideological txends of an- ?? cient Chinese aesthetics all have a common thought: Beauty lies in life. In the gorgeous beauty of biologocal phenonena, Chinese ancient aesthetics embodies profound human content, lofty personality and deep Life implication. Later, Mr Wang Guowei and Zong baihua also relate beauty to Life. From the Late 1980S?to now, many artists concentrate their mind on human life without prior consultation. They all believe that axt and the essence of beauty cannot be separated from life . Thanks to the rich tradition of Chinese classic life aesthetics and the common thou~t,combining the various meaning of life, I put forward the supposition of building contemporary life aesthetics system at the end of this chapter. The third part?Appreciation of Beauty棗The Need and Transcending of Life? mainly shows the significance of aesthetic activities to life. Firstly, the origin of apprecl- ating beauty . The earliest beauty appreciation is observing human body itself. This sim- ple observation such as decorating body, tattoo, etc. also meet the aesthetic needs of life unconciously, therefore the second par...