Francis Hutchison’S Study Of "The Origin Of Beauty"

Francis Hutcheson(1694-1746)was an aesthetician with outstanding contributions in the history of modern aesthetics.Hutchison’s aesthetic thought originates from the epistemological turn of modern philosophy,the rise of Locke’s empiricism and the continuation of Shaftesbury’s thought.Hutchison’s aesthetic thought is an important part of his philosophical argument.He takes the aesthetic thought as the starting point to demonstrate his emotionalism philosophy,and opens up the research road of modern emotionalism aesthetics.The study of "the root of beauty" is an important part of Hutchison’s aesthetics,including the research on the origin and foundation of beauty,aesthetic mechanism and aesthetic taste of beauty.Starting from the question of "the root of beauty",Hutchison further discussed aesthetic design,aesthetic sense and aesthetic education,and extended the theory of inner sense to moral sense,which started his research on the concept of moral emotion,and his thoughts had a profound influence on many aestheticians of later generations.On the basis of previous studies,Francis Hutchison systematized the theory of "inner sense" and further explored the "root of beauty" based on "inner sense" and the definition of beauty from an empirical perspective.First of all,the "beauty" proposed by Hutchison refers to an idea aroused in human heart,while the "inner sense" is the ability to accept this idea.It is an inner sense different from the outer sense,with the characteristics of necessity and immediacy,no interest,primacy and universality.In the discussion of aesthetic activities,Hutchison did not exclude the role of rational thinking in aesthetic appreciation,but reserved a place for rational thinking between experience and feeling.As for the differences in aesthetic feeling and aesthetic taste,Hutchison introduced the concept of "conceptual association",believing that the reason why people have different preferences for different things lies in the participation of ideas other than aesthetic objects and subjects in aesthetic activities,thus affecting the degree and effect of aesthetic feeling in people’s mind.Secondly,Hutchison discusses the "root of beauty" based on the internal sense and the definition of beauty,and holds that the common inducement that causes human sense to produce the idea of beauty is the attribute of "uniformity amidst variety" in the object.From the three aspects of the necessity of the universe,the principle of the supreme subject and the divine goodness,the author further proves that the ultimate cause of beauty is the good God who created the universe and placed his design intention in all things.In addition,Hutchison listed three kinds of beauty,namely,original beauty,comparative beauty and axiomatic beauty.These three kinds of beauty are different in concept,form and content,but they share the basis of "uniformity amidst variety" which can cause the inner senses to produce the idea of beauty and harmony.Hume,the great integrator of British empiricism aesthetics,inherited and developed Hutchison’s thought in large quantities,and put forward the problem of aesthetic taste on the basis of absorbing Hutchison’s theory of "inner sense" and "reason of beauty existing in object attributes".However,Hume diverges from Hutchison’s thought on "the root of beauty",criticizing Hutchison’s religious complex attribution on the root of beauty,and holding that universality of human nature,commonality of emotions,stability of habits and customs are the standard and root of beauty and art.Hutchison has made great contribution to the development of modern aesthetics.His aesthetic thought indirectly contributed to Baumgarten’s establishment of aesthetics as an independent philosophical subject,and had certain influence on German classical aesthetics,especially Kant’s aesthetics.In addition,Hutchison’s emotionalist ethics developed from aesthetics also deeply influenced Adam Smith,Bok and other philosophers.