Wang Guowei’s Aesthetic Education Thought And Its Contemporary Enlightenment

The study of modern aesthetic education in China began with Wang Guowei.He took the lead in affirming and demonstrating the independent status and value of aesthetic education in the education system,and regarded it as an important part in the “education and national salvation” theory,with a view to awakening and inspiring the national will and emotions.The national accomplishment will achieve unity and unity throughout the country and eventually reverse the situation of China’s poverty and weakness.However,in the analysis of the background of the formation of Wang Guowei’s aesthetic education,most of scholars pay more attention to his philosophy and aesthetics foundation,and often ignore the basis of educational thought.The latter is the realistic starting point for the formation of aesthetic education.Therefore,this paper aims to break through the original analysis path,and from the perspective of“education-aesthetics”,on the one hand,from the growth and practice background of Wang Guowei,extract the educational thoughts that promote the“people’s quality” to save the country.It also analyzes his ideal of“educational gregarious” and the educational purpose of cultivating“complete characters”;on the other hand,combining Schopenhauer’s philosophy of life,Kant’s aesthetic uninterested thoughts,Schiller’s aesthetic personality theory and Laozhuang’s philosophy and aesthetic thoughts analyze Wang Guowei’s sublation in the process of “combination” between China and the West.On this basis,he discusses his views on the nature of beauty and the category of beauty,and shows the basic structure of his aesthetics.It isthe reflection of education and the exploration of aesthetics that Wang Guowei finally formed his own theory of aesthetic education and gave full explanation on the purpose,content and teaching methods of aesthetic education.Wang Guowei’s aesthetic education thought has both pioneering historical significance and important implications for the development of contemporary aesthetic education in China.At present,the construction of aesthetic education in China not only faces the task of emphasizing the concept of aesthetic education,but also needs to break the old,rigid and occluded thinking in the study of aesthetic education,that is,the reform of aesthetic education should focus on the liberation and shaping of human nature,as well as the breakthrough and development of its own research level.And this is the inner spiritual orientation of the development of Wang Guowei’s aesthetic education.Starting from these two aspects,looking for the contemporary value in Wang Guowei’s aesthetic education can provide some enlightenment to China’s current aesthetic education reform and construction.