On The Soul Of Harmony

As an old theory, "harmony thought" is as well brand new. Philosophers at all times and in all lands have researched into this question tire-lessly. In Chinese traditional culture, "harmony" is not only the highest value standard of Confucianism, but also the most important value principle. Equivalently, "harmony" is also the aesthetic ideal of western culture, and was interpreted by western artistic works perfectly. "Harmony thought" in ancient Greece and "appropriateness & harmoniousness" theory in ancient China were two aesthetic peaks in human history.In the long history of the world, against the background of particular history and living conditions, distinctive but coincident "harmony thoughts" were raised in Chinese and western societies, which were base on different cultural background, national style and mode of thinking. There are identical views, such as the same ways of development—from conflict to harmony, the same essence and the similar sense of worth. Simultaneously, there are also obvious differences, such as which is emphasized—commonness or individuality? Substance and expression of subjective emotion or sense and form? There are also different cultural spirit and cultural trend.Many literature and art works from China and western countries both in ancient and modern times show that "conflict" is very important to "harmony". From what is said above, we can draw the conclusion that "conflict is the soul of harmony". Meanwhile, under different cultural situations, it is "harmony" that is more significant in China, while "conflict" is more highlighted in Western countries. The different emphasis reflects different aesthetic values.Instead of making the contrast of "harmony" and "conflict" as the primary difference of Chinese and western aesthetic consciousness, this thesis researches into "the soul of harmony" from angle of "conflict". Means of analyzing Chinese and western literature and art works make the thesis more readable. The investigation of "harmony thought" and "conflict in harmony" is valuable for us to make a study of Chinese and western cultural history. By comparison, we can also acquire the same and different points of Chinese and western philosophy, esthetics and mode of thoughts, which make important realistic sense for us to integrate Chinese and western "harmony" culture.