Richard Shusterman Body Aesthetic Theory Study

Richard Shusterman is regarded as the representative of the neo-pragmatism aesthetics in the United States nowadays, who is also quite well-known and active in the field of international aesthetics. As far as I know, the research on his Somaesthetics is still in its starting stage. This paper is to research Shusterman's theory on Somaesthetics.This paper is divided into the following parts:Part one is the introduction. In this part, Somaesthetics theory is put into the vision of Shusterman's pragmatic aesthetics, and I briefly introduce the concept of Somaesthetics theory, the formation and development, the current research. In view of existing situation, I try to make some innovation in the text.Part two describes the basic connotation of the Somaesthetics, which is the main body of the paper. We could understand the connotation from the following contents: Firstly, the pragmatism of Somaesthetics in the aesthetic perspective. Shusterman developed two very important concepts of Dewey's, and advocated a philosophy of life through self-improvement to the aesthetic style; he regarded cultivating the body as an indispensable aspect to living practice of philosophy. Secondly, Shusterman's Somaesthetics is divided into three parts: analytic somaesthetics, pragmatic somaesthetics, and practical somaesthetics. Thirdly, the training of Somaesthetics. The practice of Somaesthetics can be divided into different categories according to different criteria, externally appearance and internally experience, etc. Fourthly, universal applications of Somaesthetics. The practical application has been beyond the traditional arts and extended to a wide range of fields, from computer design and tattoos to the health and comfort, etc. Fifthly, the core of the Somaesthetics concerned—perception. Shusterman tries to nurture the focal attention of the body functions and the experience in order that we can overcome obstacles to the deficient physical habits we feel so as to improve the sensitivity and execution of our feeling. Part three is to research the theoretical basis of the Somaesthetics in macro view. Firstly, it reviewed the body concepts in the Western philosophy, from Plato, Christianity, Descartes to Nietzsche and Hegel, we can see many changes. Such changes to the body supply deep philosophical roots for Shusterman to propose the Somaesthetics. Secondly, the definition of"aesthetics"which Baumgarten defined and the non-inference experience in John Dewey's pragmatic philosophy has great influence on Shusterman's Somaesthetics.Part four is the applicability on the value of Shusterman's Somaesthetics and its theory in China. Shusterman's Somaesthetics is a huge contribution to philosophy and Aesthetics, making up the absence of the body in the contemporary aesthetic theory, and he starts an exploration of how to practice the Aesthetics, combined with the aestheticization of everyday life, I choose the fervor of"Doing Yoga"as an example to illuminate the applicability of Somaesthetics in China.The final part is conclusion. Throughout the course of development of the theory, it is can be drawn that Shusterman went a way which was a close combination between theory and practice. He liberated the Aesthetics from a purely abstract discussion of the intellective aesthetic problem through reviving Dewey's pragmatism, and made it more close attention to all kinds of life questions, so that the aesthetics has become wider and more interesting.