A Research On Shusterman’s Pragmatist Art Theory

Guided by the new generation of pragmatic aesthetic thought,Richard Shusterman formed his own unique pragmatic art theory,expounded the definition of art,aesthetic experience and popular art,and provided a new perspective and idea for the contemporary art theory research.This paper takes Shusterman’s pragmatic art theory as the research object,and studies the theory from five aspects: ideological origin,basic connotation,theoretical composition,critical practice and theoretical reflection.The first chapter summarizes the ideological origin of Shusterman’s pragmatic art theory.As the foundation of the traditional pragmatism of native American philosophy,the paper analyzes the traditional pragmatism views represented by Charles Sanders Peirce,William James and John Dewey,and the uncertainty reflected is related to the aesthetic experience in Shusterman’s pragmatic art theory.In terms of the aspect of new pragmatism,taking Richard Rorty and Nelson Goodman often mentioned by Shusterman as the object of discussion,the powerful language analysis tradition helps Shusterman,who was originally an analytical philosophical background,to make a new artistic definition,so that the definition reflects the decomposability and aesthetic nature of language.In terms of contemporary European philosophy,represented by Theodor W.Adorno and Pierre Bourdieu,it points out that its social concerns influenced Shusterman’s artistic position.Whether it is traditional pragmatism,new pragmatism or contemporary European philosophy,Shusterman holds a mutually inclusive attitude towards his main ideas,and permeates into the formation and expression of his own artistic theory.The second chapter analyzes the basic connotation of Shusterman’s pragmatic art theory.Focusing on the dialectical relationship between Shusterman’s aesthetic thought and art theory,the relationship between the two and the connotation of artistic concepts are analyzed in detail,which is embodied in the inclusion relationship between the two and the mutual promotion relationship with body aesthetics.In addition,from the perspective of nature,Shusterman’s definition of art should make a distinction between pragmatism and non-pragmatism and the concrete expression of the practicality and relativity of the definition of "Art is dramatic".The third chapter summarizes the concrete composition of Shusterman’s pragmatic art theory.Most of Shusterman’s works discuss pragmatism and body aesthetics,with scattered views into art.The author divides the main content of its art theory into three parts.The first part takes aesthetic experience as the key word,and the author emphasizes the state transfer and guiding reconstruction of aesthetic experience that Shusterman focuses on.The second part takes popular art as the key word,and points out that Shusterman’s defense of popular art reflects its affirmation of the reasonable connection between daily life and art and the influence of aesthetic pleasure on the generation of rational emotion.The third part takes entertainment as the key word,and points out that Shusterman attaches importance to the entertainment value of art.The unique dialectical significance of entertainment enables art to obtain more entertainment value with happiness as the core on the road of popularity.The fourth chapter summarizes the critical practice of Shusterman’s pragmatic art theory.This chapter and the theoretical connotation of the second and third chapters echo each other,which are mainly divided into three parts.The first part takes the definition of "wrapping paper" as an example to explain the unique context effectiveness of the definition of art.The second part is that Shusterman takes Rorty and Williams as examples,highlighting the interesting ethics of aesthetic experience in postmodernist society.The third part takes the spectrum music as an example,and points out the aesthetic legitimacy reflected in the popular art represented by rock music.The fifth chapter expounds the value and limitations of Shusterman pragmatic art theory and reflects on it.Shusterman art theory value about the importance of popular art,new definition of art theory interpretation,pay attention to pragmatic interest,but also has limitations,reflected in the dynamic reconstruction still stay in the Dewey type aesthetic discourse,the cognition of popular art concept first,reinterpretation of art definition may become a new wrapping paper definition.Finally I put forward my own reflection on Shusterman pragmatic art theory,the public in art appreciation activities should strengthen distinguish aesthetic experience to convey what thought content ability,thinking about the psychological pleasure problem and the theory in the context of Chinese localization development,and deepen the cognition of the theory.