A Study Of Georg Simmel’s Aesthetic Theory On Distance

Distance has an extremely important position in the systemic theory of German sociologist Georg Simmel.Simmel’s aesthetic theory of distance focuses on the modern experience of modernity of individuals in the modern city.He selects the marginalized and fragmented phenomena of modern daily life to describe and study,deeply traces the social and cultural phenomena from micro and concrete intuitive appearances,explores the philosophical meanings behind,and seeks explanations and answers in the whole field of humanities and social sciences.Simmel’s thinking about distance expands from the material to the spiritual level,and considers the crisis of modernity in the context of the sociology of space.In his exposition of the aesthetic experience of modern life,Simmel emphasizes distance,reveals the aesthetic experience of individuals in the context of modernity through distance,explores modern society from the perspective of personal experience,and uses "distance" as a weapon to confront the cultural tragedy of modernity,so as to resist the suppression of the inner nature of individuals by modern materialized society and complete the aesthetic redemption of modern individuals.The aesthetic redemption of the modern individual is accomplished.In Simmel’s aesthetic theory of distance,distance is not only the best blade to resist and criticize the alienated civilization of modern urban society,but also the aesthetic redemption path for modern individuals to save their unique autonomy lost by the expansion of capitalist civilization.The individual then transcends the banal and obsolete reality of life in examining and critiquing daily life,and moreover exposes the obscured reality on this path,gains the aesthetic experience of modern urban social life,rejects the encroachment of the alienated world,and comprehends the poetry of a vibrant life.The significance of Simmel’s distance aesthetics does not lie in using the life of modernity to strengthen the power of the classics,but in opening up a new understanding and new generalization of the characteristics and essence of modernity society along the lines of the previous aesthetics.Simmel’s aesthetic theory of distance breaks the boundaries of the disciplines of philosophy,sociology and aesthetics,always keeping a distance from the object of study and facing the transformation of modern urban society with an objective attitude.As a sociologist,he wanders into the scene of modern urban life,acutely picks up the fragments of the world,and asks the aesthetic meaning of modern individual existence from the minutiae that are easily overlooked by others.Simmel’s discourse on distance is scattered throughout his writings and articles,resulting in his theoretical works often exhibiting characteristics such as unfinishedness and uncertainty,and his seemingly scattered theories of thought have their own unique internal logic.Starting from the fact of individual experience,he calls for modern people to keep a distance from the capitalist social reality alienated by money,and establishes a private space for modern people in the fast-paced modern urban society,allowing them to breathe in the fleeting bustle of life.Therefore,Simmel’s aesthetic theory of distance has a distinctly enlightening meaning for modern individuals surviving in the city.Simmel’s aesthetic theory of distance embodies his unique cross-cultural perspective and humanistic concern for the modern individual.The concept of "distance" not only permeates Simmel’s entire philosophical and sociological theory,but is also a key point in interpreting Simmel’s inquiry into modernity.In discussing the problem of distance,Simmel integrates his research on the sociology of space into his theoretical field of vision,forming a unique perspective to examine the problem of modernity and proposing an aesthetic path to redemption to solve the crisis of modernity.Simmel’s theoretical thought lies in the transitional zone between modernity and postmodernity,and is a scholar who cannot be ignored in the study of modernity,and has a strong inspirational value for modernism and postmodernism,and still has research significance in today’s time,which is worthy of our deeper exploration.