What is aesthetics?

Simply put, aesthetics is to study the aesthetic relationship between man and reality. It is not only different from ordinary art, but also a daily beautification activity.

The origin of aesthetics can be traced back to the ancient slave society. Ancient thinkers' philosophical discussion of beauty and art and their research and summary of artistic practical experience can be regarded as the germination and starting point of aesthetic theory.

Aesthetics, as an independent science, is a modern product. In the18th century, when bourgeois philosophy and science flourished, aesthetics began to be established as a special topic in German classical philosophy. Baumgarden first used the word "aesthetics" in 1750 (meaning the theory of studying feelings and emotions), and regarded aesthetics as an integral part of the philosophical system. Subsequently, Kant and Hegel endowed aesthetics with a more systematic theoretical form, which made it occupy an important position in its philosophical system. Under the domination of positivism, some bourgeois aestheticians in the19th century tried to make aesthetics get rid of philosophy and become the so-called "empirical science". Of course, the empirical aesthetics, which calls itself "the science of experience", is not and cannot be separated from the domination of philosophy, but aesthetics has developed more extensively and independently in this period.

The emergence of Marxist philosophy provides a truly scientific world outlook and methodology for aesthetic research and changes the face of aesthetic research. Marxist classical writers have also put forward many important principled aesthetic viewpoints, but they have not been systematized in time. Therefore, the establishment of a scientific Marxist aesthetic system is still a task to be completed. It should be said that the study of aesthetics from the perspective of Marxism is still in the exploratory stage.

Aesthetic thought is the product of the development of human aesthetic practice and artistic practice to a certain historical stage, and it is a philosophical summary of human aesthetic practice and artistic practice. The early aesthetic thoughts of human beings are scattered in a large number of ancient works such as literary theory, painting theory, calligraphy theory, music theory, philosophy and history. These aesthetic thoughts without systematic theoretical system are the basis of aesthetics, but they are not aesthetics as an independent discipline.

Aesthetics, as a social science, is produced and developed on the basis of social material life and spiritual life, and it is a science that studies beauty, aesthetic feeling, beauty creation and aesthetic education law.

I. General situation of disciplines

Aesthetics is a subject that studies human aesthetic activities. Whether in the East or in the West, aesthetic thoughts have a history of thousands of years. /kloc-in the middle of the 0/8th century, aesthetics became an independent discipline in the west. Modern Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei and Cai Yuanpei introduced aesthetics to China. Since the 20th century, aesthetics and psychology, ethics, sociology, anthropology, cultural history, art history and other adjacent disciplines have been increasingly infiltrated, forming many branches of aesthetic psychology, aesthetic sociology and so on.

Second, the training objectives

This major trains aesthetic professionals with correct political direction, excellent moral character and excellent style of study. After graduation, you can engage in teaching and research in aesthetics, art criticism, theoretical propaganda, press and publication, etc. L. Doctoral degree has a deep understanding of Marxist philosophy, in-depth study of aesthetic theory, aesthetic history and aesthetic frontier topics, extensive understanding of aesthetics and artistic trends at home and abroad, rich knowledge of art history and adjacent disciplines of aesthetics, and high theoretical thinking ability, artistic appreciation ability and writing expression ability; Master at least one foreign language, be proficient in reading foreign language materials of this major, and have certain writing ability and international academic exchange ability.

2. Master's degree

Familiar with the principles of Marxist philosophy, with systematic aesthetic theory and knowledge of Chinese and foreign aesthetic history, with high artistic appreciation ability and rich knowledge of art history, with independent scientific research ability and high written expression ability, should be proficient in a foreign language and be able to read foreign language materials of this major.

Three. scope of business

1. Subject research scope: aesthetic principles, China aesthetics (including China traditional aesthetics and modern and contemporary aesthetics), western aesthetics (including western classical aesthetics and modern and contemporary aesthetics), aesthetic problems of various departments of literature and art, comparative study of Chinese and western aesthetics, and applied aesthetics.

2. Curriculum setting

(l) Intensive reading of Chinese and foreign aesthetic masterpieces, research on frontier issues of aesthetics, research direction and related courses of dissertations.

(2) Master's degree

Research on aesthetic principles of basic theory courses, research on Chinese aesthetic history, research on western aesthetic history, and aesthetic problems in Marxist classics.

Specialized courses include aesthetic psychology, aesthetic culturology, aesthetic pedagogy, comparative aesthetics, departmental aesthetics, applied aesthetics, China art history and world art history.

Fourth, the main related disciplines

Marxist philosophy, China philosophy history, western philosophy history, China culture history, western culture history, art, Chinese and foreign literature history, Chinese and foreign art history, psychology, sociology, ethics, education, anthropology, religion, mythology, etc.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) main school

Peking University

Sixth, related famous teachers

Ye Lang