A Study On Gadamer's Theory Of Aesthetic Bildung

Hans-Georg Gadamer is not only the most famous German philosopher after Hussel and Heidegger, but also one of the philosophers who have world influence in the20th century. With the life of102years, he built a mental treasury, from which not only the social science, but also natural science can gain nutrients. Up to today, his mind, with its alive vitality, can bring big or small influence to us. Therefore, there are always study upsurges of Gadamer and his thoughts. Those researches refer to many fields, such as Aesthetics, Pedagogy, Anthropology, and Ethics. They have not only deepened our understanding of Gadamer and his idea, but also have exerted great influence to the theory and practice of modern philosophy and aesthetics.However, from those researches, we can not find any study on Gadamer's "aesthetic bildung", for we all ignored the word-bildung. There are two reasons for it:First, Gadamer has never spaced big discusses on bildung, but just introduced it in the beginning of Truth and Method. So, it never attracted our attention. Second, In China, there is always a misunderstanding for the word-bildung. The German word for it is bildung, the meaning of which is very complex. So, there is no word right for it. In the English edition of Truth and Method, they did not translate the word, but used the original word-bildung while in China, it was translated into jiaohua. However, there is a big difference between jiaohua and bildung; even in many ways, the two words go against each other. So, the scholars in China have never reached the true meaning of bildung, nor have they realized its importance for Gadamer. Therefore, we never realized the existence of a new theory of aesthetic education-aesthetic bildung.However, this can not cancel the importance of bildung. Gadamer put it in the beginning of Truth and Method and called it "the greatest idea of18th century", he said:"it is this concept which is the atmosphere breathed by the human sciences of the nineteenth century". Bildung is a process that one gives up his particularity and goes to the whole universe by talking to others. It has the characters of history, dialogue and openness and it implies the idea of philosophical hermeneutics. Honestly speaking, we can find the idea of bildung in the whole theory system of Gadamer. It runs through Gadamer's thoughts from the beginning to the end. For this reason, some scholars in China and abroad realized the importance of this word in the last few years. Some of them took bildung as the beginning of Gadamer's thoughts, as others put bildung in the core of Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics or propose that we should call Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics as "Bildung Hermeneutics" However, those researches, for the length limitation or other reasons, did not describe that word neither in depth nor in detail. So," aesthetic bildung ", with bildung as its core conception, did not obtain our attention.Gadamer took dialogue as the way to get bildung. Art is the one who talk to us in the straightest way, so art is the most important way to get bildung. The bildung we get from art is aesthetic bildung. It is not only of great importance to the whole system of Gadamer's theory, but also to the current development of literature, art and our living conditions. So, this article intends to discuss bildung in depth, based on which research "aesthetic bildung" in detail. Concretely speaking, the research of Gadamer's "aesthetic bildung" includes several parts:Take the lifetime and academic history of Gadamer as the background and combine with the development of western aesthetic education, the part of introduction will discuss the necessity of the generation of "aesthetic bildung", which is both the result of Gadamer's academic history and the necessity of aesthetic education diversion in the20th century.Chapter one discusses the theoretical basis of "aesthetic bildung". There three basis for it:First, the phenomenology method of Hussel. Hussel hold the view that the thinking mode based on subject-object dichotomy can not gain the truth. So, he broke through the traditional thinking mode of subject-object dichotomy, which make a difference between "aesthetic bildung" and traditional aesthetic education. Second, the ontology of Heidegger. In the earlier stage, Heidegger took Dasein as the way to get Being while in the later stage, he thought all the behavior that from subject can not reach Being. Only from Being we can get truth. In this ontology, human's existence subject to Being itself. So, human beings have no initiative. Heidegger criticized the subjectivity that based on traditional epistemology. The breakthrough is of great importance to Gadamer's "aesthetic bildung". Only by giving up epistemology, can bildung open a real dialogue. Only by giving up epistemology, can bildung be a "self-bildung". Moreover, as the specific way to get "aesthetic bildung", the theory of dialogue is based on Heidegger's view of language.Third, Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics.To some extent,"aesthetic bildung" is a new theory of aesthetic education that in the horizon of philosophical hermeneutics. The ontology character of philosophical hermeneutics decides that bildung is not a behavior of one person, but of the whole nation or society."Aesthetic bildung" is not just for noblesse. Everyone can gain "aesthetic bildung". The historic character of philosophical hermeneutics put "aesthetic bildung" in a horizon of histoty.The historic inherit is one side of dialogue, it will participate in bildung. So, it will be a positive thing in "aesthetic bildung". Moreover, prejudice will also play a positive role in "aesthetic bildung". The applicative character of philosophical hermeneutics offers "aesthetic bildung" a dimension of anthropologic. Only by application, can "aesthetic bildung" achieve the transformation from theory to reality and improve the quality of the whole body of human kind. Only by application, can "aesthetic bildung" make preparations for future "aesthetic bildung". To some extent, application is not only an important part of "aesthetic bildung", but also a condition for further "aesthetic bildung"Chapter two focus on Gadamer's "bildung"."Bildung" is not only the core conception of Gadamer's "aesthetic bildung", but also its biggest feature. Gadamer originally put forward this conception to safeguard the status of human sciences. By the perfection of Gadamer, it finally became a conception of philosophical hermeneutics. What we need to pay attention is that both in China and abroad have difficulty in translating this word. In China, this word was translated into jiaohua. However, there is a big difference between these two words. In order to avoid the misunderstanding of the two words, before the concrete discussion of bildung, the article will first clarify the difference of the two words. The traditional word-Jiaohua-is a governmental action which means the below follow the behavior of the above.It aims to achieve the stability of politics. Bildung is "self-bildung" based on spontaneous aspiration. It comes true by the equal dialogue between one and others and finally achieves the quality improvement of individual or the whole body of mankind. The Chinese word jiaoyu and xiuyang can not perfectly interpret bildung either. As the Chinese edition of Truth and Method translates bildung to jiaohua, and the two words do have something in common, this article still use jiaohua as the translation, but with quotation mark to make a distinction between the two words.As a traditional word in German philosophy, bildung originates from Piety sent theology. Then Herder, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Hegel developed it a lot. When it came to Gadamer, it got the characters that different from traditional bildung:open, dialogue, applicability and historic. It not only has an intimate relationship with the hermeneutic word-interpretation, but also is of vital importance to the development of hermeneutics. Bildung is a very important word for philosophical hermeneutics. The significance of bildung to "aesthetic bildung" is that there is a big difference between bildung and jiaoyu, which brings a unique feature for " aesthetic bildung"Chapter three talks about the way to get aesthetic bildung——art experience. Gadamer hold the view that bildung is achieved from dialogue, while the artwork is the straightest way to build a dialogue, so the artwork is the most effective way to get aesthetic bildung.Gadamer proposed art experience, which learnt a lot from Heidegger's art view and Gadamer's hermeneutic experience. Gadamer's art work is not an object, in other words, aesthetic bildung can not be achieved by the appreciation of art object, but by the art experience. The process of aesthetic bildung is the process to experience art. The features of art experience make a good performance in play, symbolize and the time features of appreciations. Specifically speaking, in art experience, art based on ontology, attracts appreciators and leads them to participate in the play with art. The artwork is not the appreciative object, but a structure, which looking forward to the understanding and interpretation to bring it a whole meaning. Art has the features of simultaneity, presence and communication. The process to experience art is the process to pass through alienation and back to oneself, in other words, is the process of aesthetic bildung. Therefore, the art experience of Gadamer is not only a critique to traditional subjectivity aesthetics, but also a characteristic that is different from traditional aesthetic education.Chapter four expounds the specific mode of aesthetic bildung. Gadamer hold the view that all human actions based on understanding. For this reason, hermeneutics has the character of universality. Therefore, aesthetic bildung is also based on understanding. More concretely, aesthetic bildung is a horizon fusion process of those who want to bildung and of the art work. The specific mode of aesthetic bildung is dialogue, which means the equal relationship between "you" and "me".It contains the question-answer logic and emphasize the importance of question, which against the traditional education who pay more attention to listen. The real dialogue needs the ability of dialogue. It not aims to be a refution or complement of the opposite side, but return and improve oneself by dialogue. Therefore, the educational mode of aesthetic Bildung is distinguished from other ideas of aesthetic education. It is not the admiration of an art object, but the equal dialogue with the art work. And, the purpose is not dialogue, but to return and apply to oneself.Chapter five analyses the theoretical and reality significance of aesthetic bildung. First, Gadamer's aesthetic bildung is of great importance to the development of aesthetic education both in China and abroad. Aesthetic bildung, with bildung as its core conception, bring a new vitality to western traditional aesthetic education. It not only criticized the traditional idea of aesthetic differentiation, but also discussed the concrete process and mode of aesthetic education in depth. Both the Chinese traditional aesthetic education ideas-poetry education and music education-and the development of Chinese modern aesthetic education can gain a lot from Gadamer's aesthetic bildung. Second, in the times of mass culture, image and internet, we can learn something from Gadamer's aesthetic bildung to accurately deal with the classics and popular art. Last, the idea of tolerance, friendship and unite, which included in Gadamer's bildung, can teach us a lot on how to avoid self-alienation.The last part mainly talks about the limitation of Gadamer's aesthetic bildung. bildung aims to achieve the improvement of individual or the whole body of mankind. But bildung is based on the spontaneous aspiration, which ignored the basis function of economy. Bildung takes spontaneous aspiration as the reason of individual improvement and social development, to some extent, it is idealistic. Moreover, Gadamer put aesthetics in hermeneutics, which overstated the function of understanding in the appreciation of art. So, he confused the art appreciation and hermeneutic understanding. In addition, bildung aims to constantly improve oneself, in other words, to give up specific characters and attain commonality. Gadamer paid too much attention on commonality, which can learn something from traditional Chinese thought——harmony with diversity.