Post-philosophical Culture-based School Music Education

Diachronically speaking, music education of the 20th century in China, whose main representatives were aesthetic music education and system musicology, all took western traditional philosophy which was characterized by the epistemology of "splitting of subject and object" as its philosophical foundation. As an inevitable product of the history and society evolution, this modern music education mode, given the socio-cultural and music education context at that time, did helped the development of the systematization and standardization of the 20th century’s music education in China. However, it also led to many realistic problems, such as the prevalence of the technological rationality, the lack of cultural perspective in music education, the separation from the real life, the concealment of the humanistic significance and the absence of musical dialogue, etc.With the development of the post-industrialization and the transformation of socio-cultural ideology, this western modern philosophy has been increasingly pondered and criticized. Thus, wanderings and discussions have mounted under the impact of post-modern thoughts. Rorty’s theory of post-philosophical culture, an impartial component of post-modern philosophy, has been the most significant philosophical thought in the end of 20th century. From the keen perspective of .meta-philosophy, he established his famous theory through his fierce critic on traditional metaphysics and took the deconstruction of traditional epistemology as a top priority. The new philosophy constructed by Rorty aimed at eliminating the modern thinking habit influenced by Mirror-Philosophy, which was characteristic of essentialism, basic principle and centralism. In this culture, not a single culture department possesses privilege. Rorty insisted to derive the privilege from philosophy and melted it into other culture fields as an equal dialogist. In his new pragmatism spirit, Rorty advocated efficiency and daily life, inspired creative dialogue, and thus embraced the arrival of the post-modernism era with a multidimensional, optimistic and understanding stance with the post-philosophical culture horizon.The development of music education is closely related to philosophy trend. In face of the increasingly prominent modern crisis, the drawbacks of western traditional epistemological philosophy, as well as the predicament in establishing the music education which is based on the epistemological philosophy, this paper holds a view that the timely theory of post-philosophical culture is an alternative that transcends the epistemological one. In addition, to study music education from the perspective of post-philosophical culture also conforms to the trend of contemporary philosophy and the development of multicultural music education. When deconstructing the western traditional culture and modern philosophical thoughts, the post-philosophical culture theory is actually forming a fundamental critique and deconstruction toward the epistemological philosophy foundation of modern music education. In the context of post-philosophical culture, we are eager to construct the music education’s post-philosophical culture with a brand-new look and idea.The theory of post-philosophical culture embodies a rich connotation. However, the writer will center on the four key concepts in this theory, that is, Edifying Philosophy, New-Pragmatism Philosophy, Dialogue Philosophy, and "Small letter" Philosophy. The writer tries to deliberate and construct the music education within the theoretical framework and development pattern of post-philosophical culture by its sound argument foundation as well as its multidimensional explanations and implications:Edifying Philosophy highlights that music education should abandon the traditional teaching method and mode of "splitting of subject and object", system oriented, and lack of culture implication by the hermeneutic stand and anomalous words of non-epistemology. It converts to base Ethnomusicology as music education’s edifying philosophical foundation, and takes anti-essentialism, anti-basic principle, and irrationalism as the significant idea and stand of constructing the music education’s post-philosophical culture. Dialogue Philosophy inspires us to reconsider the problems of modern music education which over-emphasizes the teaching of music skills and professional knowledge. It stresses the necessity and importance of practicing the "dialogue concept" at different dimensions and layers in the process of music education. "Small letter" Philosophy, on the other hand, implicates that the development of modern music education should convert. from the "Capitalized Philosophy", which is monoculture-oriented and equality-diversity-lacking, to "small letter" philosophy, which orients on the coexistence of cultural diversity and equal conversation among multiple entities, so as to depict and outline the futuristic target blueprint of music education’s post-philosophical culture by means of dialogue and "small letter" view. Still, music education’s practice trend of post-philosophical culture takes the practical philosophy embodied in the New-Pragmatism Philosophy, which criticizes modern music education’s blindly pursuit toward truth and the teaching concept of aesthetic paradigm orientation, as its reference and basis. This practical philosophy directs us to walk out of the boundaries of absolute truth, to step toward the real life and toward the practice pattern of music education.