A Study Of Shaftesbury’s Thought Of " Aesthetic Disinterestedness "

As one of the important representatives of the 18 th century British empiricism aesthetics,Shaftesbury is an important figure that we cannot ignore when we study the history of western aesthetic thoughts.Under the background of England in the 17 th and 18 th centuries,Shaftesbury formed the unique aesthetic,his mind is full of strong ancient color on one hand,because he was the influence of the stoics and Neo-Platonism,on the other hand,his thought and has strong modern characteristic,because this kind of thought is a blend of neoclassicism,Cambridge Platonism and deism.Therefore,Shaftesbury’s aesthetic thought system is a combination of history and modernity,which reflects a more complex hybridity.Shaftesbury began to discuss aesthetics from the essence of beauty.He believed that beauty is not the proportion,harmony and order presented to us passively,but the aesthetic feeling that we as human beings actively experience.He believed that human beings were born with the faculties to distinguish good,evil,beauty and ugliness,namely the "inner eye" or "inner sense",through which we can directly conduct aesthetic activities and moral judgments in a "disinterestedness" way.The reason why people can make aesthetic and moral judgments based on the inner eye,and feel beauty and virtue together,is that people are born to love order,harmony and proportion as well as morality,God and goodness.It is a natural emotion,a natural emotion that arises naturally from within.Shaftesbury aesthetic thought is always linked with moral ideas,which particularly relevant "aesthetic disinterestedness" ideological and moral,of his masterpiece "people,customs,opinions and characteristics of era",especially in the theory of virtue and merit and moralist in the two papers,fully explain the idea of an "aesthetic disinterestedness".Shaftesbury first applied the idea of "disinterestedness" in the field of morality to oppose the "atomic" view of self-love of Hobbes and Locke,and then gradually advanced the field of aesthetics,thus putting forward the idea of " aesthetic disinterestedness "."Aesthetic disinterestedness" is associated with moral feelings,when we have the natural emotion such as love,generosity,kindness,we will feel the natural naturally in good order,so as to make us more love beauty,thus naturally improve our temperament,constraint unethical behavior,cultivation of social emotion,promote virtue.Shaftesbury discusses the connection between moral sense and aesthetic feeling.A disinterested aesthetic feeling helps to enhance moral sense,and in turn,this kind of virtuous moral feeling will produce beautiful effect.Although Shaftesbury’s thought of "aesthetics disinterestedness" contains strong emotional elements,he still retains the tradition of rationalism with a long history in the western philosophical tradition when discussing aesthetic issues.Furthermore,he holds a high respect for rationality as traditional western rationalism does."Reflection",for example,the so-called "reflection",namely a kind of "facing the emotional feelings",we reflect on the emotion can make us to have likes and dislikes,emotions at this time,people can from passive into active,not passive accept emotions,but they can realize their own behavior,to be the observer of own behavior,as an outsider to observe your feelings or behavior,resulting in a like or dislike emotions(i.e.,likes and dislikes),and value judgment for their actions.With this kind of introspection,man not only becomes the active moral subject,but also becomes the active aesthetic subject.Shaftesbury’s idea of "aesthetic disinterestedness" had an important influence on the western aesthetics in the 18 th century.In terms of its influence on the British empiricist aesthetics in the 18 th century,the aesthetic thoughts of Hutchison,Hume,Burke and so on were deeply influenced by it.Although the aesthetic ideas of these aestheticists were different from Shaftesbury’s,they continued the idea of "aesthetic disinterestedness" and developed it to a new height.In terms of its influence on continental European aesthetics,many continental European aestheticians including Kant were deeply influenced by it.In his Critique of Judgment,Kant vigorously developed the idea of "aesthetics disinterestedness" and perfected it.Therefore,this paper argues that although Shaftesbury’s idea of "aesthetic disinterestedness" also has some defects,for example,because of the interweaving of moral theory and aesthetics,his aesthetics can’t be truly independent,but his unique position in the history of western aesthetics can’t be replaced by anyone.In this regard,the study of Shaftesbury’s idea of "aesthetic disinterestedness" is helpful for us to understand the origin and development of aesthetic modernity,and has a very important enlightening significance for us to explore the transformation of aesthetic modernity to post-modernity.