On the main musical aesthetic thoughts of Confucianism, Mohism and Taoism

1: Confucian music theory system Confucian music theory fully affirmed the role of music in social life. Xunzi believes that in turbulent times, music can inspire the soldiers in front to be brave and good at fighting, and in a peaceful environment, music can make people do it by courtesy. In terms of music content and artistic form, Confucian music theory puts "goodness" and "harmony" in the first place, and the beauty of artistic form in the second place. China's traditional music aesthetics takes "harmony" as its core, which has a far-reaching influence on the development of China musicians. Confucian music theory also regards musicians' art as a way to know the truth.

2. The representative works Yue Ji and Yue Ji are the representative works of Confucian musicians' aesthetic thoughts. The Music Record puts forward many problems related to music art, such as the causes and characteristics of music, the relationship between music and national politics, the relationship between music and real life, the aesthetic function of music, the educational function of music, the social function of music and so on. In other words, the ideological content of the work is primary, the skill is secondary, the cultivation of moral character is primary, and the completion of things is secondary. This gives us an inspiration: in contemporary music teaching, professional music talents are needed, but it is more important to cultivate and expand music quality through music education and have certain artistic accomplishment.

3. The representative (1) represents Confucius. His musical thoughts are mainly concentrated in The Analects of Confucius. Politically, Confucius advocated "rule by virtue" and "rule by courtesy", emphasizing the political role of rites and music and the moral influence of music. Confucius thinks that the ideological and artistic quality of music is "goodness" and "beauty". In line with the so-called benevolent is good, and those who show peace and moderation are beautiful, which has formed one of the earliest musical aesthetic standards in human history. Shao, which praises Shun De, is praised as a perfect art, while Dawu, which expresses conquest, is rated as an imperfect art.. Confucius believes that musicians should be restrained when reflecting people's pain and joy, and should not go beyond the moral principle of the golden mean. It is the prejudice of the feudal ruling class to emphasize the unity of form and content, respect the elegant music of "music without lewdness, decay without injury", and dislike folk pop music such as "the voice of Zheng Wei" and "the elegance of Zheng Sheng" with fanatical or rebellious spirit. (2) representative Xunzi. Philosophically, Xunzi advocated the theory of "evil nature" and believed that the bad habits of human nature can only be improved through education, because it is an inevitable need of human beings to emphasize the importance of etiquette and music education. He advocates that music should proceed from reality and develop and change with the progress of the times, but there is still a tendency to worship elegance and despise vulgarity in music thought.

(B), Taoist music aesthetics

1: Tao Te Ching is the representative work of Laozi and a famous argument of China's ancient music theory. He believes that the most beautiful music should make people feel harmonious and calm, and this kind of calm can make people get self-cultivation and sublimation unconsciously.

2. Representative figure (1) Laozi (about 57 BC1-47 BC1): Laozi is an ancient philosopher, who believes that the contradictory changes of things are dominated by a natural law called Tao. Laozi's attitude towards life is negative. In music thought, he thinks that beauty and ugliness exist in contrast, and their voices complement each other. "Everyone in the sky knows that beauty is beauty and evil is evil: everyone knows that good is good and bad is bad-my husband only lives in the house: so he can't go."

(2) Zhuangzi (about 369 BC-286 BC) Zhuangzi believed that the essence of musical beauty is human nature. The principle of musical beauty is natural and unpretentious, with simple aesthetic feeling. Music gets rid of the bondage of ceremony, which conforms to nature and humanity. Zhuangzi thinks that there are three kinds of sounds: "human voice" (artificial music), "earth sound" (the sound of trouble) and "the sound of nature". This kind of music "can't be heard, it depends on the shape without a front, all over the sky, wrapped in six poles."

(3) Mohist music aesthetic thought

Representative: Mozi (about 468 BC-376 BC) is a school of music opposite to Confucian music thought. Born in Shandong, Mozi was a great thinker, scholar and political activist. Musically, he strongly opposes the Confucian idea of "ruling the world with rites and music", and his attitude towards life is too negative, only seeking to meet the minimum living requirements. The social function of music has not been fully understood. Mozi believes that since music art can't "promote the benefits of the world, except for the harm of the world, it will also enrich the people", it can only increase the burden on workers; Not only can music not rule the world, but "people who enjoy more than complexity can rule more people than widows."