Two Panel Proposals on Chinese Aesthetics

Transcription

1 The 20 th International Conference of the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 4 7 July 2017 Two Panel Proposals on Chinese Aesthetics In Chinese culture, aesthetics has long been regarded as an essential field of philosophical study, whereas aesthetics is seriously marginalized in contemporary curricula of Anglophone philosophy departments. Aesthetics is associated with sensory experiences and the emotions, which are often assumed to lack the highly valued traits of objectivity and critical analysis. However, the Chinese tradition sees sensory experiences and the emotions as essential to philosophy. The human heart-mind is open to the dynamic movements of qi and dao and becomes part of them. This idea forms the basis for both music and painting depending on how one merges into nature through one s sense and mind modalities. In order to resurrect Chinese aesthetics as a philosophical ground, we propose two panels as follows. [Panel 2] Chinese Aesthetics in World Contexts: Dynamic Energy, Harmony, and Instantaneousness Chaired by Park So Jeong, with the following panel speakers 1. Chung-Ying Cheng, On Aesthetics of Vis Viva ( 生命美学 ) in Chinese Philosophy 2. Sandra Wawrytko, Chinese Harmony Versus Ancient Greek Dualism 3. Zhu Zhirong, On Instantaneousness of Aesthetic Image-creation [Summary of the panel 2] There are wide differences between Chinese aesthetics and Western aesthetics in music and art of painting. We need to explain what makes the differences possible and what developments they have produced. To do so we would like to suggest that the ultimate reason for such differences comes from the different onto-cosmological orientations in culture and metaphysics of the two traditions: the Chinese and the Greek-European. We try to show that we could have a philosophical ground to appreciate both of them and yet at the same time 1 / 6

2 understand how and why they are different. This understanding may act as a base or incentive for creative works involving both the East and West, both ancient and modern or postmodern. The first paper deals with two types of aesthetics, namely that of forms and that of changes and further argues that the contemporary approaches to Chinese aesthetics may not do justice to the rich life experiences of poetic and non-poetic arts in China. The second paper delves into the discrepancy between Chinese and Western assessments of the human/nature dynamics and validates the Chinese approach to aesthetics. The third paper explores the instantaneousness of aesthetic image-creation which is highlighted in Chinese aesthetic discussions. [Affiliations of Panelists] (In alphabetical order) Chung-Ying CHENG, Philosophy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, US So Jeong PARK, Philosophy, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Sandra WAWRYTKO, Philosophy, San Diego State University, US Zhirong ZHU, Philosophy, East China Normal University, China Abstract of Panel 2 Chinese Aesthetics in World Contexts: Dynamic Energy, Harmony, and Instantaneousness On Aesthetics of Vis Viva ( 生命美学 ) in Chinese Philosophy Chung-ying Cheng Professor of Philosophy, University of Hawaii at Manoa ccheng@hawaii.edu I have three parts for this paper. Part one will deal two types of aesthetics in West as sources of a problematic: that of forms and that of changes with the former based on intellectual intuition of essences of beauty in things and the latter based on life experiences of a 2 / 6

3 transforming cosmos from a person. In the West these two types tend to be separated from each other and often even appear to be contradictory or mutually negating. We find this mutual negation in Kant and Hegel. In a deeper sense Kant talks of universal and necessary forms to be judged or determined by our transcendental reason whereas Hegel wishes to witness our sense of beauty in the concrete examples and achievements in major arts of human creation as realized in time and historicity. These two approaches create strong tensions which call for an examination of both epistemological and ontological foundations of what we understand to be the beautiful as a form, as a feeling and as a state of reality. In the second part of the paper, I shall explore and analyze the relationship between Kant and Hegel in aesthetics as not simply mutual negation but mutual dependency in a deeper ontogenerative sense. This leads us to see how a philosophy of change as embodied in the Yijing provides such a solution. The solution comes from creative unity of the life content with its changes and forms which give rise to each other as observed and experienced by ourselves. I shall explain how our extensive and comprehensive observation reveals how it is from a formless, unlimited and indeterminate source (the creative void) that both forms and changes emerge and how this presentation shows a creative unity of difference between formation of forms on the one hand and transformation of content and quality on the other. This is both a matter of creative form- making in nature and reality and a matter of creative supervening in our heart-minds. The consideration of dynamic energy (vis viva) and recognition of life forms are therefore most important and significant. This also amounts to a vitalistic interpretation of reality and life with regard to Yijing trigrams and hexagrams and their inter-diagrammatic relationships in terms of both enhancement and restrictions and in reference to three levels: nature, human life and human creations. This is a brand new approach versus using traditional Yijing wording for a mere re-description of our aesthetic feelings and sense. Part three of the paper will make critical comments on some early contemporary scholars in Chinese aesthetics who have achieved a vision of beauty from the Chinese tradition of the Yijing. I shall specifically discuss Fang Dongmei and Zong Baihua in their respective approaches to aesthetics from the Yijing point of view. Others are either Kant-inspired or Hegel-oriented and thus may not do justice to the rich life experiences of poetic and nonpoetic arts in China. 3 / 6

4 Chinese Harmony Versus Ancient Greek Dualism: Unleashing Allocentric Attention Through the Arts Sandra A. Wawrytko Director, Center for Asian & Pacific Studies Professor of Philosophy, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, U.S.A. The field of Aesthetics generally is not considered part of the core curriculum in American departments of philosophy today. Its marginalization stems in large part from association with sensory experiences and the emotions, which are assumed to lack the highly valued traits of objectivity and critical analysis. In Chinese culture, however, Aesthetics has long been regarded as an essential field of philosophical study. Li Zehou has provided an insightful cultural comparison that examines the very roots of this discrepancy: from the very beginning aesthetic consciousness in the Chinese tradition has never been ascetic. Far from foreswearing sensory pleasures, it embraces, affirms, and celebrates them.... this affirmation of sensory pleasure is by no means Dionysian licentiousness or saturnalia (The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition); Chinese sages transformed and rationalized the power of the shamans into rites and rituals and interpreted these powers as manifested in music and poetry to be constructive. Western scholars considered the powers of the muses attractive and powerful, but whimsical, and a threat to the humans most treasured faculty: reason (Four Essays on Aesthetics). This presentation will delve more deeply into these differing cultural assessments of the human/nature dynamic, focusing on the masterpiece of Euripides, The Bacchae, which premiered in 405 b.c.e. Drawing on Greek mythology, Euripides probes the presumed dualism of inherent in human nature by pitting the authority of a human king, Pentheus, against the religious appeal of his divine cousin, Dionysus. The play can be seen as a cautionary tale about the consequences of repressing or suppressing right brain powers of creativity and imagination embodied in a cult leader who triggers allocentric natural instincts. The forces of reason and civilization, represented by Pentheus, respond with self-righteous indignation and violence, exposing the hubris of human egocentrism. The resulting tragedy (culminating in the dismemberment of Pentheus by his own mother) will be assessed from the 4 / 6

5 vantage point of Chinese philosophies, which have sought human harmonization with Nature. Discussions will include Confucius promotion of the arts as a means to channel emotions in socially responsible ways that enrich civilization rather than disrupting it, Laozi s emulation of the Dao of Nature, and the non-dualistic Middle Way of Buddhism. Of special note are recent scientific studies that appear to validate the Chinese approach to aesthetics by exposing a link between mental illness and urbanization/estrangement from Nature. On Instantaneousness of Aesthetic Image-creation Zhu Zhirong Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University suzhouzhuzhirong@163.com The creation of aesthetic image reflects the instantaneousness of aesthetic subject s thoughts. Aesthetic subjects see or hear something such as objects, affairs and their backgrounds, which inspire subject s emotions and imagination. Therefore, the aesthetic image is created through subject s poetic thinking in a instantaneous way. Aesthetic subjects create the aesthetic images through the interactions of objects and emotions in aesthetic activities. It is impossible to totally understand an artwork before we spend time learning and thinking about it. However, even those drawings and music which people find they are hard to understand, it is instantaneous that we suddenly understand their meanings and find the beauty inside. Firstly, the aesthetic subject creates images through instant intuition in a creative activity. Inspired by one s emotions, the subject obtains one s experiences, judgements and creations. Secondly, the instantaneous creation presents the accumulation of the subjects. Thirdly, the instantaneous aesthetic images which are created by subject is eternal. In Buddhism and Taoism, there are quotes which tell about the eternal value of instant intuition. Such as the moment you see something, you understand the Tao inside ( 目击道存 ) from Zhuangzi and the moment is eternal ( 刹那即永恒 ). Aesthetic subjects inspired by objects through an instantaneous way, which presents in artworks. Artists always choose the most meaningful moments to create their images. For example, the drawings of shrimps from QiBaishi, which we can see they are vital as alive. The most important experience of aesthetic always shows in the most creative moment, which reflects the instantaneousness of aesthetic image creation 5 / 6

6 and the interaction between objects and emotions. 6 / 6