Research On Lyotard's Aesthetics Of The Sublime

Sublimity, as a very important category of western aesthetics, has always been studied as the antithesis of beauty. In the history of western aesthetics, it is Longinus who made the first theoretical study on sublimity, which was gradually supplemented and completed by the studies of the aestheticians such as Buwa Luo, Burke and Kant. In the flood of Modern Art, the nature of sublimity has changed under the influence of Post-modernization, which stands as one of the focus issues of post-modern theory.Jean-Francois Lyotard is one of the most reprehensive figures of post-modern theory. As a famous French philosopher and post -modern theorist, Jean-Francois Lyotard made research through philosophy, linguistics, aesthetics, politics science, history, social science and so on. He gained high international reputation in the academic circle not only because of his study on Postmodernism, but also his resolute defending of Postmodernism. The theory of sublimity serves as a very important foundation of Lyotard's aesthetic theory in the sense that the basic framework of Lyotard's aesthetics is based on the arguments of sublimity.The first chapter is a general introduction of the history of sublimity. Longinus holds that sublimity comes from people's intensive, emotional or sublime thought while Buwa Luo pays more attention to the how sublimity breaks from the classical system of technique in due time. In Burke's eyes, sublimity is the intensive form of contradiction. Kant supposes that sublimity can not be embodied. The more we think, the more the feeling of the amazement and respect will be evoked in our heart:the sky over and the morality inner.The second chapter serves as the main body of the thesis, which can be further divided into three parts. The first part focuses on theory origin of Lyotard's sublimity. The second part talk about that how Lyotard re-interprets the history of sublimity. As he summarizes, sublimity can not be embodied.this factor has always exists in the concept of sublimity in the aesthetic theory, which stands as a basic assumption of Lyotard's sublimity. Then we discusses the basic concepts of Lyotard's aesthetic theory that sublime emotion can not be embodied and is transient. The third part explains the relationship between Lyotard's theory and the avant-garde art, which targets at the art basement in reality and theoretical significance.Chapter Three mainly concerns the retrospect of Lyotard's sublimity. Three parts are included in this chapter. The first part introduces Lyotard's aesthetical arguments and thoughts after his theory of sublimity.The second one is to discuss how Lyotard's aesthetics is influenced by the environments it is in, the 20th century Frence or a larger scale,it means response of postmodernism to Lyotard's sublimity. The last part includes the significance and limitations of Lyotard's theory of sublimity.