We usually think of the feeling of beauty as the feeling of beauty, or at best a magnificent, sublime feeling. But there are works that have nothing, they have neither beauty, nor magnificence, nor sublime.
Like Rodin's sculpture The Old Whore, it is neither beautiful nor magnificent nor sublime, but you will have a feeling of emotion. In most people's eyes, it's disgusting and ugly. But if your heart is deep enough, broad enough, with a human compassion, you may have a touch. It is art, and it is immortal art.
So what is the history of aesthetics?
The history of aesthetics is related to people's sense of beauty and aesthetic consciousness, and to talk about the history of aesthetics, first of all, it is inseparable from the word aesthetic consciousness and aesthetic sense. You can not talk about beauty, you can also not talk about art, but you can't talk about beauty. Anyone who occupies a certain position in the history of aesthetics does not talk about beauty. So aesthetics are fundamental, or aesthetic awareness is fundamental.
A textbook for undergraduates, beginners interested in aesthetics can also be used to get started quickly.
Lectures on the History of Western Aesthetics is a companion piece to the Outline of the History of Western Aesthetics, which contains the objective aesthetics of ancient Greece and Rome, the theological aesthetics of the Middle Ages, the aesthetics of modern humanities, and the foundation of Marx's practical aesthetics. At each aesthetic stage, the author first introduces its historical background and cultural soil, so that readers can have a deeper and clearer understanding of the emergence and development of this aesthetic. Then introduce the aesthetic representatives of this stage, and summarize the aesthetic development of this stage through one aesthetic representative figure after another. In general, the author tells the history of aesthetics in chronological order.
