Chenghao’s Thoughts And The Chinese Resources Of The Construction Of Eco-aesthetics

The ecological value of the Oriental thoughts has attracted wide concern in the academia. However, as for the research status, the ecological interpretation of Chinese classic thoughts have not actually combined the classic ideas with the ecological crisis successfully. There appears to be a tendency of simplification, not only in interpretation means, but also in the concrete construction for the ecological thinkings.The ecological crisis is rooted in modernity. It is specifically manifested in the fact that the modern ideas have built three bases for the ecological crisis, as the supremacy of human beings being the first one, self-identity of the subject and marginalisation of "the other" the second and superstitious belief of rational thinking and blindness for moral principles the third. About modernity, criticisms from contemporary western philosophy and ethics could be said to strike the heart of the problem. But even then, their solutions suffer numerous failures due to the limitations of their mode of western thinking. Owning to the defects of absence of ethical dimensions in Western ethics, Western ecological ethics, especially, fails to figure out a way to adopt "the other" and the lingering question on what kind of place nature should own remains unsolved.Cheng Hao takes a natural and intimate approach to nature in his belief and action. There are there main reasons accounting for this. The first is the establishment of "heavenly principle" theory, was established at that time. As Neo-Confucianism of Sung-Ming dynasties concentrated on searching the metaphysical basis for humanism, from the time of Chou Dunyi, the process of exploration reveals an inclination to "humanize" the "heavenly principle". The "heavenly principle"("Tian-Li", which literally means "heavenly will" in Chinese) successfully unites "the heaven" with man, which provides ample metaphysical basis for the "humanized" morality. In turn, the close and harmonious relationship between all living things was vindicated in this way. So this is the foundation where Cheng’s worldview of being close to nature rests on. It enlightens us that constructing an ecological worldview is the preresiquite for solving all the ecological problems. However, the concept of "Union of Heaven and Man" is based on a series of assumptions after all. And modern society is supposed to premise the construction of an ecological worldview with sufficient ecological knowledge, so much so that a scientific and universal ecological world outlook could be formed for better understanding and implementation of ecological ideas.The second reason is the uniting of "the benevolent" and nature. In the Benevolence Thought in Confucianism,"the other" is regarded as one of the necessary conditions for one’s formation of personality. And Confucius requires the subject to "restrain one’s selfhood" and to "love people". So in this way, the concept of "the other" is fused into the ethical system naturally. Cheng Hao considers "the benevolent" and all the living things to be a union. Therefore, man should be benevolent not only towards others, but also nature. However, though Cheng modifies the ontology of "the benevolence thought" and incorporates "nature" into the ethical system, this kind of universal benevolence ignores the particularity of human society, and thus would inevitably leads to the misunderstanding of Neo-Confucianism---"void talking of mind nature". So only the distinctions between principles of ethics and ecological ethics were made clear, can we be possible to expect a satisfactory way to handle the problems of human society and the relationship between man and nature.The third is to enjoy the pleasure of the "heaven" and man. The real connotation of ecological aesthetics is to "appreciate beauty ecologically". Cheng’s aesthetic judgment for nature is a typical activity of ecological aesthetics. This kind of aesthetic activity bases on the worldview that "the Heaven and man is a union" and premises with the ethical principle that "the benevolent is a complete unity with objects". These above two points reminds us that ecological aesthetics have to be built upon the basis of ecological worldview and ecological ethics. The perceptual mode to enjoy the pleasure of the "heaven" and man differs from the aesthetic mode of bisecting the subject and the object. Instead, it is an aesthetic mode to integrate the subject with the object, in which the subject opens his ego and melts into all the living creations so that an ecstasy of the "oneness" can be obtained. As a kind of "rational sentiment", the pleasure of the "heaven" and man is an ecological-senses-based aesthetic activity. It stresses the profound state that an aesthetic activity can reach. Through this way, Truth and Goodness are turned into the foundation of aesthetics.Generally, ecology studies what is the balance and stability of ecological system. Value selection is hardly touched very often in this field. It purely attempts to uncover laws of nature. Differing from this, ecological ethics tries to reveal that, keeping ecological balance is both a moral behavior and a correct moral choice. Then, ecological aesthetics finds that keeping ecological balance is not only an existential strategy or obligation, but also an enjoyment in human life. It brings pleasure and happiness to the mind. In this way, a solid foundation can be found for overcoming ecological crisis from its origin.