The Aesthetic Discourse Of Modernity: Critical Theory And Practical Aesthetics

Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School has become the most influential academic school of the Western Marxism from 1923 to now; Correspondingly, the Chinese Marxism Practical Aesthetics has become the main trend of the Chinese contemporary aesthetics from 1956 to now, so the comparison between this two has immediate significance and academic value to the study of western aesthetics and the innovation of Practical Aesthetics.From the universal perspective of modernity, this dissertation trys to compare Critical Theory with Practical Aesthetics, and through a simple study of the complicate western modernity discourse, this dissertation generalizes the basic contents of modernity as follows: sensuousness and reason,the two basic category of modernity; pleasure and politics, reason and art, the two basic problems of the aesthetic discourse of modernity; enlightenment modernity, aesthetic modernity,reflective modernity,the three development stage of modernity.The whole dissertation comprises six parts.From the original point of Marxism aesthetic modernity,namely Marx's "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844",the introduction compares the interpretation of "Manuscripts" by Marcuse and Li Zehou,and through which we can find that Li Zehou and Marcuse take seriously the discussions about sensuousness by Kant, Schiller and Marx,but Li Zehou opposes the aestheticism tendency of Marcuse which takes sensuousness as the ontology of Marxism Philosophy.In this sense, the dissertation concludes that Practical Aesthetics is an aesthetics of reflective modernity. There is a common theory appeal in Practical Aesthetics as reflective modernity and Habermas' critique of aesthetic modernity that is re-appraising the value of reason and rethinking the radical critique of reason and the radical eros liberation which is called aestheticism.In this sense, Practical Aesthetics is an unfinished project of modernity.In chapter one we consider "pleasure and politics" as the first essential problem of the aesthetic discourse of modernity on the ground that pleasure is not only the important category of the classical aesthetics but also the value orientation and desire motive of the modern society of consumption. From the original point of Western Marxism political aesthetics, namely Schiller's "Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man", section one explores into the influences of Schiller's aesthetics upon the Critical Theory and Practical Aesthetics. Critical Theory develops Schiller's political aesthetics and constructs an particular political aesthetics.on the contrary, Practical Aesthetics not only attach much importance to Schiller's aesthetic anthropology thoughts but also use Marx' practical philosophy to reform the aesthetic Utopia thoughts of Schiller. Section two probes into the theory and practice of the pleasure politics of Marcuse and Jameson.From Marcuse's Freudo-Marxism to Jameson's postmodernism cultural theory, we can find that the political potential energy of pleasure has exhausted because the infatuation for pleasure finally leads to castration of its political function.As the conclusion of this chapter,section three expounds the limit of the pleasure politics of Critical Theory through a case study of Foucault.On this basis,the dissertation trys to draw Foucault's concept of pleasure practice into Practical Aesthetics and put forward a practical aesthetics emphasizing the importance of temperance and moderation.Chapter two regards "reason and art" as the second essential problem of the aesthetic discourse of modernity on the ground that the relation between enlightenment reason and aesthetics is not only the core of Western Marxism aesthetics but also the key problem of Practical Aesthetics in the context of market economy.By the close reading of the first excursus of Dialectic of Enlightenment,"Odysseus,or Myth and Enlightenment",section one dipects five faces of enlightenment spirit that is calculation,positivism,logic,asceticism and hedonism,and analyses the dialectics of myth and enlightenment:technology and science has become an ideology, enlightenment reason has become instrumental reason.Taking Adorn's aesthetic theory for example,section two illustrates the aesthetic thoughts of Critical Theory.In the respect of natural beauty,Adorn carried forward Kant's aesthetic theory and made a meta-critique of Hegel's depreciating of natural beauty,and in the respect of art beauty, the dissertation compares Adorn's musical aesthetics with Benjamin's movie aesthetics and considers the debate between Adorn and Benjamin as the double faces of the same coin of modernity promble.As the conclusion of this chapter, section three discusses Poster's critical theory facing the age of the second media and relates this to Practical Aesthetics through the concept of virtual practice.Chapter three trys to expound Practical Aesthetics from the perspective of modernity.The first problem of Practical Aesthetics' modernity is the modernization of the category Practice which is not only a classical ethical concept but also an up-to-date category.The structure of Practical Aesthetics can be understood in this two aspects:in its narrow sense, Practice means material production;in its broad sense,Praxis means all kinds of human being's sensuous activities including discourse communication,pleasure practice, virtual practice and so on.As the intermediary of the subject and the object, Practice also takes the function of negating and criticizing the real life.The second problem of Practical Aesthetics' modernity is the modernization of Marxism practical philosophy.Practical Aesthetics upholds the priority of practice to theory,the primary of material productive practice and opposes Western Marxist's revisionism tendency to reform Marx' practical philosophy. Practical Aesthetics also opposes the fashionable Deconstructionism and its by-product relativism and nihilism. The third problem of Practical Aesthetics'modernity is the modernization of its study method. Practical Aesthetics not only use practice monism solve the problem of the relationship between mind and materials which perplex the philosophy aesthetics for a long time, but also use the integrated method of the historic and logic, the diachronic and synchronic to combine the experimental psychology and aesthetic genesis in order to make itself establish on the solid positive foundation.Chapter four demonstrates the critique of modernity of Practical Aesthetics which includes the critique of aesthetic mysticism and individualism.The main viewpoints of mysticism aesthetics lie in this three propositions:the transcending quality of aesthetic activities,the ineffability of aesthetic experiences,and the identity of the aesthetic and religious experiences.Practice Aesthetics takes beauty as an objective social phenomenon and the sense of beauty a psychological mechanism which can be understood,and therefore opposes the mysterious tendency to exaggerate the function of aesthetics or take aesthetics as a new religion.The difference between collectivism and individualism lies in B.Constant's liberty of the ancients and moderns or I.Belin's positive and negative liberty in the western politic philosophy.According to the critique of aesthetic individualism by R.Eucken, the dissertation analyses its characters and defects using six key words such as liberty, individuality, sensuousness, instantaneity,illusion,and mysticism.The ultimate motive of this dissertation is to stimulate the real significance and critical energy of Practical Aesthetics through assimilating the rational contents of Critical Theory, and this purpuse can be generalized in a word: toward a critique-oriented practice aesthetics which is not only the logic result of the comparative study of Critical Theory and Practical Aesthetics but also the intrinsic attribute of Marxism Practical Aesthetics.For the purpuse of the paradigm shift from practical aesthetics to the critique-oriented practice aesthetics, we must expand the intension of Practice and put its focus on the new practice fields and aesthetic activities,and finally make Practical Aesthetics become an aesthetic sociology facing the human being's realistic activities and the basic experiences of everyday life.