亚里士多德的美学 Aristotle’s Aesthetics

拉斐尔的名画‘雅典学院’里，柏拉图与亚里士多德并立。柏拉图指向天，那是理想世界的理念。我们所见的亚里士多德的手指指向地上。这幅画精确地描述了柏拉图与亚里士多德的不同。这个不同也显示在他们的艺术道路。

亚里士多德比柏拉图更加同情地关心艺术。亚里士多德相信普世理念形式只存在于个别物体，认为艺术家在研究物体并把它们转换为艺术形式时，艺术家是直接的与宇宙接触。因为这个理由，亚里士多德肯定艺术的认知价值；他说艺术既然是模仿自然，所以它与自然的信息沟通。

在认知价值以外，艺术在亚里士多德观念中还有相当的心理学意义。首先，艺术反映人本质的深刻一面，人类由此与动物有别；模仿是他们的植入本能。事实上，儿时最早的学习是由模仿而来。

除了本能，人们在面对艺术时，还会感到欢愉。所以，人们之所以享受观看肖像是因为当他们凝视它时，他们发现他们在学习或在推理，同时叹道，‘啊，我想到了。’

以艺术而言，亚里士多德的观点比柏拉图有极大的进步。他明确地意识到艺术的目的只不过是给人一时的痛快，所以它不需要寻求工匠技艺的那种功能。作为一种活动，不像柏拉图那样艺术当作无价值的把戏，亚里士多德在模仿中找到知识与真相。

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In The School of Athens, the fresco by Raphael, Plato and Aristotle stand side by side. Plato points to the heavens, to the ideal world of the Forms. Aristotle is shown with his hand open toward the earth. The painting accurately portrays the difference between Plato and Aristotle. It's a difference that shows up in their approaches to the arts.

Aristotle had a more sympathetic interest in art then did Plato. Aristotle, believing that the Universal Forms exist only in particular things, felt that the artists are dealing directly with the universal when they study things and translate them into art forms. For this reason, Aristotle affirmed the cognitive value of art, saying that since art does imitate nature, it therefore communicates information about nature.

In addition to cognitive value, art has in Aristotle’s view considerable psychological significance. For one thing, art reflects a deep facet of human nature by which people are differentiated from animals, this being their implanted instinct for imitation. Indeed, from earliest childhood learning takes place through imitation.

In addition to this instinct, there is also the pleasure that people feel upon confronting art. Thus, the reason people enjoy seeing a likeness is, that in contemplating it they find themselves learning or inferring, and saying perhaps, ‘Ah, that is he.’

With respect to art, Aristotle views are an immense advance on those of Plato. He distinctly recognized that its aim is simply to give immediate pleasure, and so it does not need to seek the useful like the mechanical arts. The essence of art, considered as an activity, Aristotle found in imitation, which, unlike Plato, he considers not as an unworthy trick, but as including knowledge and discovery.

柏拉图：艺术是距离现实的第三重模仿 Plato: Art is Imitation That is Three Steps Removed from Reality

有人说西方哲学是对柏拉图的一系列的注解。柏拉图对西方文化的影响无疑是十分巨大，包括对艺术与艺术理论的巨大影响。

柏拉图发展了他的两个世界观的现实：不断改变的物质世界与永恒与不变的理念世界。理念世界是绝对、独立、理性与超越的。理念世界永远不变，是我们所看到的物质世界的主要自然事物的因。

美、公正与圆圈都是柏拉图的形式或理念的例子。很多个别的事物都具有圆圈、公正或美的形式。对柏拉图而言，这些形式是完美的理想，它们同时比客观物体更为真实。他称它们为‘真正的实在’。世界上的物质现象的实在只能限于它们对真实世界的模仿。

在柏拉图看来，不断变换的物质世界是完美、理性、永恒、不变的本质世界的劣等腐朽模仿本。美丽的花朵、夕阳、音乐或情爱都不过是美丽理念的不完美模仿品。在这个现象不断改变的世界，你可能有机会捕捉到醉人心弦的完美的短暂一刻，但是它必然会消失。它只是永恒的完美的线索。

艺术是模仿。但是，模仿什么？艺术模仿日常生活里的事与物。就是说，艺术作品是理念的模仿的模仿。所以它是距离现实的第三重模仿。以画一张床为例，它模仿物质世界里的床，而这物质世界床本身就是理念世界里的床的劣等模仿品，虽然它比艺术床较为好些。只有理念床才真正的存在。

所以，艺术作品比起日常经验更加虚幻。它们充其量不过是娱乐，而在最坏的情况下是危险的妄想。柏拉图关心艺术的认知方面，觉得既然它与真理有数重距离，它有歪曲知识的效果。他提议把诗人与剧作家驱赶出他的理想王国，或至少审查他们所写；同样的，他要求音乐与绘画经过严格的审查。他认为艺术强而有力地塑造个性。所以，为了保护理想社会里的理想公民，艺术应该受到严格的控制。

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It is said that all of Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato. Plato's influence on western culture is undoubtedly a very strong one, and this includes a strong influence on the arts, and on theories of art.

Plato developed a two-world view of reality, the changing physical world and the eternal and changeless world of Forms, which is absolute, independent, rational and transcendent. The world of Forms never changes and yet causes the essential nature of things we perceive in the physical world.

Beauty, Justice, and The Circle are all examples of what Plato called Forms or Ideas. Many particular things can have the form of a circle, or of justice, or beauty. For Plato, these Forms are perfect Ideals, but they are also more real than physical objects. He called them the ‘Really Real’. The world of physical appearances only has reality to the extent that it succeeds in imitating the Forms.

Plato saw the changing physical world as a poor, decaying copy of a perfect, rational, eternal, and changeless original. The beauty of a flower, or a sunset, a piece of music or a love affair, is an imperfect copy of the form Beauty itself. In this world of changing appearances, while you might catch a glimpse of that ravishing perfection, it will always fade. It’s just a pointer to the perfect beauty of the eternal.

Art is imitation. But what does it imitate? Art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is therefore three steps removed from reality. A painting of a bed, for example, is the imitation of a bed in the physical world that itself is an imperfect (though less so) imitation of the Form or Idea Bed, which is all that really exists.

Therefore, the works of art are even more of an illusion than are ordinary experience. They are at best entertainment and at worst a dangerous delusion. Plato was also concerned with the cognitive aspect of art, feeling that it has the effect of distorting knowledge since it is several steps removed from truth. He proposed sending the poets and playwrights out of his ideal Republic, or at least censoring what they wrote; and he wanted music and painting severely censored. The arts, he thought, are powerful shapers of character. Thus, to train and protect ideal citizens for an ideal society, the arts must be strictly controlled.

尼采：美学最可能替代宗教 Nietzsche: Aesthetics, the Most Promising Alternative to Religion

尼采场被认为是后现代主义之父。作为十九世纪德国三个大哲学家的最后一位 – 其他两位是黑格尔与马克思，他为随后的思维作出了决定性的陈述。对于那些尝试把道德世俗化而从基督道德中分离出来，尼采鄙视他们，并宣称上帝已经死亡。初看是十分令人不快的。可是就如那在水里被慢慢加温的青蛙那样，他的思想却慢慢地爬进了我们。原来被认为不可思议与荒谬的，现在已经被普遍接受。

但是，他对于当每一个人对上帝之死的含义完全了解后会产生的后果感到恐惧。对尼采而言，上帝之死为人生旋开新章，这‘肯定人生’哲学的新章代替了‘否定生命’的基督道德。由此，他转向人类价值的这个中心问题。在他寻找价值的新基础，当上帝不再是人生目标与认可人类行为的那一天到来时，尼采相信美学最有可能替代宗教。

他说，唯有作为一种审美现象，人类的生存与世界永恒才能有正当的理由。他相信原本是希腊发现人类努力的意义。他从希腊阿波罗与狄俄尼索斯的概念中对人性得到了基本的领悟。他相信审美价值来自于这两个希腊神所代表的原理的融合。

酒神狄俄尼索斯象征有活力的生命溪流，没有约束与障碍，挑战所有限制。另一方面，太阳神阿波罗是秩序、约束与体制的象征。从另一个角度来看，酒神代表灵魂中负面与有破坏性的黑暗力量，如果不被抑制，会导致令人恶心的肉感与残忍的混合物，一种典型的未开化的动物的本性。相反的，太阳神代表的是一种能够处理高涨活力的力量，利用有破坏性的力量并把它们转换为有创造力的行动。

对尼采而言，人性的最高成就出现于希腊文化，在那里酒神与太阳神的元素互参，而不是只对太阳神的崇拜。事实上，人的生命无可避免包含了感情中的黑暗与激情两种力量。他相信宗教信仰之所以被冷落，就是因为基督道德里主要否认生命的消极性。

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Friedrich Nietzsche is often called the father of postmodernism. Being the last of the three great German philosophers of the nineteenth century - the other two being Hegel and Marx, he made the definitive statement that set the stage for what was to follow. Contemptuous of those who tried to secularize morality by divorcing it from Christianity, Nietzsche pronounced God dead. Perhaps offensive at first, his thinking, like the proverbial frog on the stove, has crept up on us. What was once thought of as incomprehensible and absurd has now become widely accepted.

However, he was appalled at the consequences that would follow once everyone fully aware of the implication of the death of God. The death of God meant for Nietzsche the opening of a new day – a day when the life-denying ethics of Christianity could be replace with a life-affirmation philosophy and this turned him to central question of human values. In his search for a new foundation for values in a day when God no longer be the goal and sanction of human conduct, Nietzsche believed that aesthetics was the most promising alternative to religion.

Only as aesthetic phenomenon, he said, are human existence and the world eternally justified. The Greeks, he believed, originally discovered the true meaning of human effort. He drew his fundamental insights about human nature from the Greek conceptions of Apollo and Dionysus. He believed the aesthetic value results from a fusion between two principles, which are respectively represented by the two Greek gods.

Dionysus symbolised the dynamic stream of life, which knows no restraints or barriers and defies all limitations. Apollo, on the hand, was the symbol of order, restraint, and form. From another point of view, the Dionysian represents the negative and destructive dark power of the soul, which when unchecked, will culminate in that disgusting mixture of voluptuousness and cruelty typical of the most savage beasts of nature. The Apollonian, by contrast, represents the power to deal with the powerful surge of vital energy, to harness destructive powers, and to transmute these into creative act.

For Netzsche, the supreme achievement of human nature occurred in Greek culture where the Dionysian and Apollonian elements were brought together, rather than respecting only the Apollonian spirit. The fact is that human life inevitably includes the dark and surging forces of passion. What disqualified religious faith, he believed, was the essentially life-denying negativeness of the Christian ethics.

中国艺术的表演性 The Performative Aspects of Chinese Arts

大多数的中国艺术是一门功夫。就是说，几乎毫无例外的，中国艺术是以持久与长时间的锻炼来达到高度完美的。著名的例子有武术，剑舞。可以说，中国的绘画与书法也包括在内。

以前在中国，据说在所谓的雅集时，常见的情景是，几杯酒入肚后，在众人的羡慕眼光下，知识丰富的学者拿出毛笔，以优美创新的书法形式书写诗词或名言。事实上，在雅集挥毫的习惯至今还是十分流行于华人社会。

中国艺术适合于表演，是有其原因的。以书法为例，它除了是一门功夫外，还有其他因素促成它的表演性质：

1． 书写书法时要注重笔顺，所以，它具有一种过程的性质，这就使它适合于表演。

2． 书法的书写是不允许修改的。如果书家对某些线条不满意，他通常会把整幅作品抛弃。所以，书写书法时，与表演艺术一样，需要全神贯注。

3． 书法所强调的线条也有关联于笔力、笔势等概念，因为这些因素决定了线条的节奏流畅与质量。无可否认，力与势都是表演艺术的中心元素。

4． 中国书法的最高素质就是气韵的追求，而气韵一向被认为与艺术家本身的个性有明确的关系。气韵可从艺术家的功力与精神现象中体验，尤其是在表演时更能体会。

在中国美学中，并不缺乏有关中国艺术表演性的书写。我们将在适当的时候谈谈他们。

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Most of the Chinese arts are a form of gongfu. That means almost without exception, the Chinese arts usually aim at high level of perfection through persistent and long period of training and practice. The famous examples are martial arts, sword dances. One may also say Chinese paintings and calligraphy are a form of gongfu.

In China, it is said in the past, during the so-called elegant gatherings of scholars and after a few cups of wing, it was quite common to have those among the guests who were highly literati often – under the admiring eyes of others – took up the brush, writing poems or famous sayings in beautiful and creative calligraphic forms. In fact, the practice of performing calligraphy at gatherings or even banquets has survived in the Chinese societies until today.

There are good reasons on why Chinese arts are suitable for performing in front of others. Using calligraphy as an example, in additional to its being a gongfu, there are other points that promote its performative qualities:

1. There is an order or sequential movement in calligraphy in which characters have to be written. It therefore has the character of being a process which makes it suitable for performance.

2. There are in touch ups in writing calligraphy. If an artist is not happy with certain strokes, he usually discards the whole piece. Thus, in writing calligraphy, a kind of concentration like in the performing arts is necessary.

3. In calligraphy, emphasis on the line also concerns such notions as strength and well as momentum and gesture of the brushstroke, because these are forces that determine the dynamic flow and the expressive quality of the line. Needless to say, gesture and momentum are also central elements in other performing arts.

4. The highest quality in Chinese calligraphy is ‘spiritual resonance’ which is said to have a definite relationship to the personality of the artist. This may come across as a certain spiritual presence or power of the artists which can be appreciated particularly when performing.

There is no lack of writings in Chinese aesthetic literature in which these performative aspects of Chinese art are highlighted. We shall talk about them at appropriate times.

功夫：中国艺术之要素 Gongfu: The Essence of Chinese Arts

自康德以来，西方美学极力强调创意。相比之下，中国美学较强调以适应过去模式与自然浑成之熟练或完美。这种强调在中文就叫‘功夫’。

华人书法可以说是一门功夫，意思是长时间在体力与精神上训练来完成高度完美。就此而言，与其他属于功夫类的艺术如武功与剑舞没有两样。功夫的概念包含了一个很重要的信息，那就是高水平及神似的艺术只有通过长时间的训练才能达到的。

华人书法的功夫是勤勉地临摹与书写历史上大书法家的著名法书而达成的。可是，要真正精通书法这门艺术，临摹要超越模仿。好的书家要掌握笔法、了解每个字的空间逻辑、明白通篇章法原理、与知晓各个书体变化。

无可否认，英语中以‘复制’来指中文字‘摹’、‘临’与‘仿’所指的过程，实在是粗俗。实际上，临摹法书，就是以徒手临摹来感受字体、结字、章法，这样才能为个人领悟这门艺术铺平道路。

在临摹法书时，我们我们应该避免盲目重复，而要找个方法来把它们据为己有。不然，坚持以临摹来达到完美会因太过依赖过去的模式而导致停滞不前。

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In western aesthetics, since Kant, there has been a strong emphasis on originality. In contrast, Chinese aesthetics places more emphasis on mastery or perfection, both through orientation on past models and natural creativity. The Chinese term for such emphasis is known as gongfu.

The Chinese calligraphy can therefore be said to be a form of gongfu, which means that it aims at high perfection through long time physical and spiritual training. In this regard, it is often compared to other Chinese arts that the category gongfu also applies, such as martial arts, sword dance, etc. The concept of gongfu also contains an important message that high and spiritual level of the art can only be achieved after long training.

In Chinese calligraphy, the gongfu is achieved through the diligent copying and writing of famous calligraphic works of great masters in history. However, copying must move beyond imitation if the art of calligraphy is to be truly mastered. Good calligraphers must master brushwork, understand the spatial logic of individual characters, understand the principles of composition, and must be aware of stylistic variations.

Admittedly, ‘copying’ is a clumsy English word for processes that are subtly different in Chinese terminology: mo, to trace, lin, to copy freehand, and fang, to imitate in a freer manner. Indeed, the process of tracing great works, copying them freehand, and imitating them in a freer manner by experimenting script, size, and overall composition paves the way for the personal appropriation of the art.

In ‘copying’ the calligraphic works, one must therefore avoid blind repetition and find a way to make them one’s own. Otherwise, the insistence on achieving perfection through copying would lead to too much orientation on past models and therefore stagnation.

中文：有意味的形式 Chinese Characters: The Significant Form

中文具有意、音、形三美。基于象形，中文以形状结合了声音与意思，形成了方块字来代表意念。

作为一种最早的文字之一，中文很明显的在发展中华文明方面扮演了重要角色。原本，也有古代苏米人与埃及人的符号，可是只有中国文字保留至今。

有一个著名的‘仓颉造字’的神话。根据这个神话，仓颉这个五千年前黄帝的史官，受到了动物形迹的启发，领会到不同形迹可用来作为分辨各种物体的标记，所以他就发明了许多符号来代表不同物体与事物，这就成为了最早的中国文字。

这些文字经过了长时期的严格的简化、概念化与具体化的过程，才成为代表物体与思维的目前的形式。

中文字目前的形式由点与线组成，这些点与线组成字的最主要构成部位，而这些部位结合成为完整的字。自古以来，发展与演变出了许多的结字原理与规则。我们只能在掌握了这些结字的原理与规则后，才能把字写对。世世代代以来，许多书法家终其一生研究与了解这些原理与规则，以便能够写出漂亮的书法来。

中国文字是一组有美感的美丽的符号，因为它的结构真实地代表了万物的有意味的形式。

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The Chinese characters are said to possess beauty in sense, sound and form. Based on pictographs, they combine shapes with sounds and connotations to form unique, block-shaped characters that carry meaning.

As one kind of the most ancient characters, it is obvious that Chinese characters have also played a significant role in the development of Chinese culture. Originally, ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian symbols existed, but only Chinese characters remain today.

There is a very popular myth named "Invention of Characters by Cang Jie". According to this myth, Cang Jie, a historical chronicler of the Yellow Emperor over 5,000 years ago, was inspired by the footprints of animals and understood that different prints could be treated as marks to discriminate different objects, so he invented a lot of symbols to represent different objects and affairs, and they were the oldest Chinese characters.

These characters have gone through a vigorous process of simplification, conceptualisation and crystallisation over a long period of time, before they finally become the current form that represents things and ideas.

The current form of Chinese characters are composed of a group of lines and points, which may form a single key component in a character; various components then combine together to form a character. Many rules and principles of structure have been developed and evolved since ancient times. It is only after one knows the principles of the structure of Chinese characters one can know how to write them correctly. Generation after generation, many calligraphers have spent their lifetime to study and understand these principles and rules so that they can find the best way to write them beautifully.

The Chinese characters are a set of aesthetically beautiful symbols because their structure truly represents the significant form of myriad things.

礼生乐 Chinese: Rites Gave birth to Arts

据说把礼节与乐（特别是音乐与书法）结合起来，在商朝（公元前1766-1122）就开始了。当时礼器以动物的形象来装饰，还铭刻了象形字 -- 书写文字的古老前身。所以中国美学理论的一个要点就是礼生乐。意思是从第一天开始，艺术品就为它的社区与国家服务。

实际上，乐本来就是《论语》的主题。孔子以音乐来比喻，遵照传统礼节就是把社会次序安排好：‘乐其可知也：始作，翕如也；从之，纯如也，皦如也，绎如也，以成。’

当整个音乐队表演好，它可以毫不费力地达到统一与和谐。没有人需要为了玩得好而受限制或被说服，或需要通过他与乐队的合作。老实说，这就是遵守传统礼节而造就的社会和谐的形象。在这样的社会里，没有人需要被强迫去配合整体；一个人只要参与礼节，他就已经在和谐之中。孔子的政治哲学就很好地被说成主要是美学的，它强调美好地安排传统构成元素。

荀子谈到礼乐时说：‘故乐行而志清，礼修而行成。耳目聪明，血气和平，移风易俗，天下皆宁，莫善于乐。故曰：乐者，乐也。’

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It is said that the association of rituals and Chinese arts, music and calligraphy in particular, begin in the Shang Dynasty (1766 BC – 1122 BC), when ritual vessels were decorated with images of animals and inscribed with pictographs, the ancient precursors of written language. Therefore one salient feature of the Chinese aesthetic theory is that Rites gave birth to Arts. That means right from the beginning, art objects have always serve the interests of the communities and states that they inhabit.

Indeed, music is central to the Analects. Confucius uses music as a metaphor for a social arrangement kept in place by the observance of traditional li:

‘This much can be known about music. It begins with playing in unison. When it gets into full swing, it is harmonious, clear, and unbroken. In this way it reaches its conclusion.’ (3:23)

When a musical ensemble is playing well, it achieves unity and harmony effortlessly. No one has to be constrained or exhorted to play well or to combine his efforts with that of the group. Again, this is an image of a state of social harmony created by the observance of traditional rites. In such a state, no one has to be forced to act harmoniously with the whole; by virtue of one's participation in li, one is already in harmony. It has been well said that Confucius' political philosophy is essentially aesthetic, emphasizing a beautiful arrangement of traditional elements.

Xunzi has this to say about music and ritual:

Therefore when music is performed, the inner mind becomes pure; and when ritual is cultivated, conducted is perfected. The ears become acute and the eyes clear-sighted; the blood humour becomes harmonious and is balanced, manners are altered and customs changed. The entire world is made tranquil, and enjoys together beauty and goodness. Therefore it is said, ‘music is joy.’

音乐：古代中国美学之灵魂 Music: The Soul of Ancient Chinese Aesthetics

如果说数学是古代希腊美学的灵魂，那么音乐就是古代中国美学之灵魂。这可能是居于孔子本身就狂爱音乐的这个事实吧。比如，当他与人相遇，如果对那人的歌唱很喜欢，他会要求他重唱，然后他自己加入同唱。他也精通乐器，在卫国玩罄（古代乐器），边唱边玩古筝，跟襄子学鼓。据《论语》所载，孔子在齐国听到了韶乐，他陶醉到三个月之内吃肉不觉得有肉的味道。还说：‘不图为乐之至于斯也。’想不到这乐曲竟达到了如此的境地。
《乐记》详细说明了孔子的音乐学说。《乐记》可说是最有系统的陈述儒家美学。它一开始就讲解了音乐的起源与功能。
‘凡音之起，由人心生也。人心之动物使之然也。
感于物而动，故形于声，声相应，故生变，变成方谓之音。比音而乐之，及干戚羽旄，谓之乐。乐者，音之所由生也；其本在人心之感于物也。
是故其哀心感者，其声焦以杀；其乐心感者，其声啴以缓；其喜心感者．其声发以散；其怒心感者，其声粗以厉；其敬心感者，其声直以廉；其爱心感者，其声和以柔。六者非性也，感于物而后动。是故先王慎所以感之者。
故礼以道其志，乐以和其声，政以一其行，刑以防其奸。礼乐刑政，其极一也。所以同民心而出治道也。’
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If mathematics is the soul of ancient Greek aesthetics, then music is the soul of ancient Chinese aesthetics. This could due to the fact that Confucius himself was almost crazy about music. When he was pleased with the singing of someone he was with, for instance, he would always ask to have the song repeated and would join in himself. He was also good at playing musical instruments: playing qing at Wei, singing while playing zither, learning drumming from Xiangzi. And as is recorded in the Analects, when Confucius was in the State of Qi, he heard the music of Shao; he was so intoxicated with the sweetness of its tone that he for three months did not know the taste of flesh. ‘I did not think that music could have been made as excellent as this.’ he said. (7:13)
This Confucian doctrine of aesthetics is elaborated in Yue ji or Record of Music which is perhaps the most systematic literature on aesthetics in the tradition of Confucianism.
From the very beginning, Yue ji gives an explanation to the origination and function of music:
‘All the modulations of the voice arise from the mind, and the various affections of the mind are produced by things (external to it).
The affections thus produced are manifested in the sounds that are uttered. Changes are produced by the way in which those sounds respond to one another; and those changes constitute what we call the modulations of the voice. The combination of those modulated sounds, so as to give pleasure, and the (direction in harmony with them of the) shields and axes, and of the plumes and ox-tails, constitutes what we call music. Music is (thus) the production of the modulations of the voice, and its source is in the affections of the mind as it is influenced by (external) things.
When the mind is moved to sorrow, the sound is sharp and fading away; when it is moved to pleasure, the sound is slow and gentle; when it is moved to joy, the sound is exclamatory and soon disappears; when it is moved to reverence, the sound is straightforward, with an indication of humility; when it is moved to love, the sound is harmonious and soft. These six peculiarities of sound are not natural; they indicate the impressions produced by (external) things. On this account the ancient kings were watchful in regard to the things by which the mind was affected.
And so (they instituted) ceremonies to direct men’s aims aright; music to give harmony to their voices; laws to unify their conduct; and punishments to guard against their tendencies to evil. The end to which ceremonies, music, punishments, and laws conduct is one; they are the instruments by which the minds of the people are assimilated, and good order in government is made to appear.’

艺术与有意味的形式 Arts and the Significant Form

我们注意到康德说过：适当地讲，美的判断只和形式有关。可以说，这是形式主义者的陈述。
形式主义的概念是说艺术最重要的就是它的形式。换言之，它被制成的方法和它纯粹的视觉外观，而不是它所陈述的内容或它与可视世界间的关系。形式主义者强调色彩、线条、形状和纹理这类的构成元素，而不是现实、背景和内容。
所以，在绘画，形式主义者会专注色彩、笔画、形式、线条与组合。
1914年，克 莱夫•贝尔提出了‘有意味的形式’的学说，把物体的真实形式与‘有意味的形式’分辨开来。他说：
‘唤起我们审美情感的所有对象的共同属性是什么呢？圣索非亚教堂（Sta.Sophia）、加特斯 的窗户、墨西哥的雕塑、一个波斯碗、中国地毯、乔托在帕多瓦的壁画、普桑（Poussin）的杰作、皮耶罗•德拉•弗朗切斯卡和塞尚的作品共同的属性又是什么呢？可能的答案只有一个 — 有意味的形式。在每件作品中，以某种独特的方式组合起来的线条和色彩、特定的形式和形式关系激发了我们的审美情感。我把线条和颜色的这些组合和关系，以及这些在审美上打动人的形式称作“有意味的形式”，它就是所有视觉艺术作品所具有的那种共同属性。’
对贝尔而言，以一件物体的表象来辨认艺术品并不比捉住这件物体的‘有意味的形式’或真正的内在本性来得重要。
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We noted that Kant says that judgment of beauty ‘should properly concern merely form.’ One can say that this is a formalist a statement.
Formalism is the concept that the most important aspect of a work of art is its form, that is, the way it is made and its purely visual aspects, rather than its narrative content or its relationship to the visible world. Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as colour, line, shape and texture rather than realism, context, and content.
In painting therefore, a formalist would focus exclusively on the qualities of colour, brushwork, form, line and composition.
In 1914, Clive bell further propounded the theory of ‘Significant form’ to make a distinction between a thing's actual form and its 'significant form.' He said:
‘There must be some one quality without which a work of art cannot exist; possessing which, in the least degree, no work is altogether worthless. What is this quality? What quality is shared by all objects that provoke our aesthetic emotions? What quality is common to Sta. Sophia and the windows at Chartres, Mexican sculpture, a Persian bowl, Chinese carpets, Giotto’s frescoes at Padua, and the masterpieces of Poussin, Piero della Francesca, and Cezanne? Only one answer seems possible - significant form. In each, lines and colours combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions. These relations and combinations of lines and colours, these aesthetically moving forms, I call "Significant Form"; and "Significant form" is the one quality common to all works of visual art.’
For Bell, recognition of a work of art as representational of a thing was less important than capturing the 'significant form', or true inner nature, of a thing.

中国美学意象: 情与景交融 Chinese Artistic Imagination: Fusion of Emotion and Scene

意象是另一个重要的美学概念。有人说它是进入了解中国传统美学之门。
在西方，最接近中国意象概念的名词是想象。它在艺术制作与欣赏中扮演了角色。美感想象探究由联系美感经验而体验到的可能性。对康德而言，美感经验是想象与领悟的自由互动：‘美感想象能够对过去较和好时所做的艺术品之高尚美丽与真实有所知觉。’
在中国美学中，意象要求艺术品之整体性，不能遗漏主观情感与客观景物，而是要把它们连接起来。艺术品所含之意与象的关系多样化。要制造意象，艺术家要对意与象有协和的关系。
意指艺术家要借他的作品来表达的意见、意念、心意与情意。
中文字‘象’指三个概念：形象、象征与抽象。中国文化明显重象轻言。所以易经引用孔子说：书不尽言，言不尽意，故圣人设象以尽意。毕竟，易经之象是以三爻与六爻卦符号为代表。这个‘象’字就有形象或象征的意思，看它用在哪里。
抽象这个词在中文里是相当新的，虽然抽象这个概念古已有之。
所以，意象之象，是形象、象征与抽象之自由互动。.
Yi-xiang (literally imagery idea or intentional idea) or Artistic Imagination is another very important aesthetic notion. It is said to be the entrance to understanding the Chinese traditional aesthetics.
Imagination always plays a role in the production and appreciation of artworks. Aesthetic imagination explores the possibilities suggested by the connection of aesthetic experience. For Kant, aesthetic experience involves a free play of the imagination and the understanding. ‘Aesthetic imagination can perceive the ennobling beauty and truth of past art produced in more harmonious times.’
In Chinese aesthetics, Yi-xiang mandates wholeness so an art work should never leave out subjective emotion and objective scenery, but should combine them. The arts contain various relationships between emotion and scenery. To create a Yi-xiang, an artist must in a harmonious relationship between emotion and scenery.
The word Yi as an artistic subject means opinions, ideas, sentiments and emotions that the artist attempts to express through his/her works.
The word xiang in Chinese refers to three concepts: image, symbol or abstraction. The preference of images over words is well known in the Chinese culture. So Yi-jing (The Book of Change) quotes Confucius (551-479 BC) that written words cannot fully express speech while speech cannot fully express ideas. So the sages have established emblematic images to fully express their ideas. However, in Yi-jing, xiang actually is represented by the trigram and hexagram symbols. The word xiang is used to mean both images and symbols, depending on the context in which it is mentioned.
Abstraction is a new term in the Chinese vocabulary, although the concept of abstraction may have been existed in the Chinese mind since the ancient time.
So, when we say scenery in the context of Chinese Yi-xiang, it refers to the free play of images, symbols and abstract imagination.

文：中国的形式美 Pattern: The Beauty of Form

中国古代美学谈形式美，以‘形’和‘文’为主。
文有美丽、规律、结构，和文章、文学两种意思。这样，文就和美联系起来了。
许慎《说文解字》对‘文’如此解释：‘初作书，盖依类象形，故谓之文。’
易经说：‘....观鸟兽之文.... 文，错画也。象交文。’
所以，文就是以坐标、花样来代表类似的东西。它也就是纹，斑纹、线条、形状。
作为形状，它的特征就是变化。清朝叶燮在‘原诗’这就有很好的描述：‘天地之大文，风云雨雷，变化不测，不可端倪，天地之至神也，即至文也。’
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The ancient Chinese used words like Shape (xing) and Pattern (wen) in their discussions of artistic form. Wen in Chinese means both beautiful/regular pattern/structure and literature. It is when the word is used to mean pattern that it is associated with the meaning of beauty.
In the first Chinese dictionary Shuo wen jie zi (說文解字) complied by Xu Shen 許慎 in around 100 AD, it said that when ‘the Chinese characters were first invented, it seems that the forms were copied according to their resemblances that they were called ‘patterns’.’
Yijing says that ‘…. observed the markings on birds and animals…. Wen consists of intersecting lines. Its graph is like an intersecting pattern.’
Wen is therefore representing the likeness of things through written ‘graphs’ or ‘pattern’. It is also means wen 纹, i.e. stripes, lines and figures.
As a pattern, it possesses a unique characteristic of transformation. This continuous transformation was noted by Ye Xie (1627-1703) who said that ‘within Heaven and Earth the greatest forms of pattern (wen) are the wind and clouds, rains and the thunder. Their mutations and transformations cannot be fathomed and have neither limit nor boundary; they are the highest manifestation of spirit (shen) in the universe and the perfection of wen.’

中国艺术意境: 象外之境 Chinese Artistic Vision: Scene beyond Images

艺术意境是另一个重要的中国美学概念，为二十世纪的美学家所热烈讨论与阐述。
意境经常与境界交替使用。然而，境界有较广的意义。学者如王国维、宗白华、冯友兰等都说人生有不同境界。宗白华认为人生有五种境界，艺术境界就是其中的一种。
艺术境界其实就是意境。
意境不单是情感与景色的完全交融。
意境就是意与境。
意就是情感。所谓写情则沁人心脾，写景则在人耳目，述事则如其口出是也。
境就是指我们的心神遨游古、今以至未来的时间之中，由无数形象形成图像。这些形象由虚与实之空间所形成。众所周知，中国美学认为虚更重要，因为虚比实更能提示性的表达。要引出意境，我们要现象处身于无限时空之中，同时艺术品需能传达‘象外之象’和‘境外之境’并引出我们的世界感、宇宙感、人生感。
就是说，意境代表一种抽象形象美，它的大部分藏于形式内或超越形式，所以只会显现于行家或灵目之中。
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Artistic vision (yijing) is another important Chinese aesthetic concept that was very much discussed and elaborated by aestheticians during the 20th century. The western readers should not confuse the Chinese term artistic vision (yijing) with the Book of Changes (yijing). Although the pinyin for these two terms is exactly the same, but the actual Chinese words for them are totally different.
Artistic Vision (Yijing) is often used interchangeably with the term Horizon (jingjie). However, the term Horizon has a broader meaning. Scholars such as Wang Guowei, Zong Baihua and Fong You-lan talked about various types of Horizon of life. Zong Baihua said that there were five types of horizon of life and artistic horizon was one of them.
The artistic horizon actually refers to the artistic vision (yijing).
Artistic vision is more than a perfect aesthetic fusion of artistic feeling or idea with scenic images.

The Chinese term yijing consists of two words: yi and jing.
Yi means feelings. One scholar once said, ‘it is in the expression of feelings that is heart-stirring and mind-freshening, in the description of scenes that is vivid and engaging, and also in the narrative of events that is lucid and authentic as though coming straight from the mouth of a good story teller. ’
The words jing refers to the land of countless images that form a picture in one’s mind that moves along the time line from past to present and towards future. The images are formed by spaces that are unoccupied (xu) and occupied (shi). It is well known in Chinese aesthetics that the unoccupied is more important as it can be more suggestively telling than the occupied. Therefore, to achieve artistic vision, one must imagine he is in the land of infinite time and space and that the art work should convey ‘images beyond images’ and ‘scenes beyond scenes’ which will bring out one’s sense of world, universe and life views.
In other words, artistic vision represents a kind of abstract beauty of images in which more than half conceals itself within or beyond Form and is revealed only to the ‘informed’ and searching eye.

中国美学: 境界 Chinese Aesthetics: Horizon of True Emotions and Scenes

境界是王国维所阐述的其中一个重要的中国美学概念。这本来是个佛家词语，指境或尘，就是感觉作用的区域；又为对象；心识活动范围。
他对境界的解说：‘境非独谓景物也。喜怒哀乐，亦人心中之一境界。故能写真景物，真感情者，谓之有境界。否则谓之无境界。’
就是说，境界要有真感情和真景物。
据他所说，境界有四个透视镜：
1。造境与写境：这理想派和写实派得分别， 虽然事实上不易分别，因大诗人所造之境必合乎自然，所写之境必邻于理想故也。
2。有我与无我之境：艺术家与景物完全认同，是为有我之境，类似里柏斯的移情状态。我在景物中迷失，似乎消失，无我之境也。
3。大小之境：境界有大小，不以是而分优劣。
4。隔与不隔之境：‘隔’就是‘雾里看花’。‘不隔’就是自然表现的真感情与真景物而令参与者获得直觉的理解和深邃的鉴赏。
我们可以总结说，境界是文艺价值的最终判断和艺术创作的理想。
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The notion of Horizon (jing-jie), as elaborated by Wang Guowei, is one of the most important Chinese aesthetic concepts. Jing-jie is actually a Buddhist term visaya which means the scope of sense perception or the characteristic of sense experience.
On the meaning of Horizon, he said: ‘The poetic state is not limited to scenery and objects alone. Pleasure and anger, sorrow and joy are also a sort of jing-jie in men’s hearts. Therefore, those poems that describe true scenes and objects (真景物), true emotions and feelings (真感情), can be said to possess jing-jie. Otherwise, they may be said to be lack of jing-jie.’
In other words, Horizon is about true emotions and true scenes.
According to him, Horizon can be viewed from four perspectives:
1. Created or Described Horizon: This is the basis of the distinction between idealists and realists. In reality, it is not easy to differentiate them, as great art works must be both created naturally and described ideally.
2. Involved-Self or Detached Self: Horizon of an Involved-Self is a situation whereby the artist totally immerses himself personally and emotionally. This is quite similar to Lipps’ condition of empathy. In the case of a Detached-Self, the self is so deeply lost in the object that it seems to disappear.

3. Large or Small Horizon: Horizon can be large or small, but it cannot be used as a basis for determining excellence or inferiority of an art piece.
4. Veiled or Non-Veiled Horizon: The Veiled Horizon refers to a situation where one ‘views flowers through a mist’. On the other hand, Non-Veiled Horizon is achieved through the natural expression of real feelings and scenes that enable participants to attain intuitive apprehension and profound appreciation.
We can therefore conclude that Horizon or jing-jie is an ultimate measure of literary value and an ideal of artistic creation.

康德：形式主义的始创者？ Kant: Founder of Formalism?

我们谈过康德美感判断的四个契机。
第一，美感是无功利的。就是说我们要先觉得一样东西美丽才产生愉快，而不是有了愉快感才认为它美丽。第二和第三，美感判断具有普遍性和必然性的。普遍性和必然性是人脑想象的产物（康德把这个想象成为‘共通感’），一件物品的漂亮并没有客观特征。第四，在美感判断中，美丽东西的本身才是决定性，并应无目的的。
他也坚持审美不涉及概念。所以说花朵，天然图形，线条植物叶群中无拘束的纠缠在一起，不象征什么，也不靠什么既定概念，可也很美。
我们可以由此得出结论：在康德美的观念中，形式至关重要。事实上，这正是康德的意思。他说：适当来讲，美的判断只关形式。就是说，当我们看到一件艺术品，一个天然物品或景物，认为它美丽的话，是基于他的形式品质，而不是感悟到的内容。
就这样，康德成为现代美学哲学里所有形式主义的创始者。
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We have noted that Kant’s aesthetic judgments have four key distinguishing features.
First, they are disinterested, meaning that we take pleasure in something because we judge it beautiful, rather than judging it beautiful because we find it pleasurable. Second and third, such judgments are both universal and necessary. Both universality and necessity are a product of features of the human mind (Kant calls these features 'common sense'), and that there is no objective property of a thing that makes it beautiful. Fourth, through aesthetic judgments, beautiful objects appear to be final without end or purpose.
He also insists that judgments of beauty do not involve concepts. It is said that flowers, free designs, lines aimlessly intertwined in each other under the name of foliage, signify nothing, do not depend on any determinate concept, and yet please.
One can therefore conclude that form seems to be of primary importance for Kant with respect to beauty. In fact, this is exactly what Kant has in mind when he says that judgment of beauty ‘should properly concern merely form.’ That is to say, when we come across a work of art, a natural object or scene and experience it to be aesthetically beautiful, this is owing to the formal qualities, not sensible content of the object.
Kant is thus the founder of all formalism in aesthetics in modern philosophy.

审美：必然性的愉快 Aesthetic Judgment: Necessary Delight

这是个不容易理解的概念。
美对愉快感具有必然性的关系。但是这种必然性不是理论性和客观性的。这种必然性是特别的，只能称为例证式的。简言之，我的判断只是审美普世规律中的一个例子。
如果我们不能以理性或认知来表示美的原理，那我们又怎能向别人传达审美的必然构成呢？以康德之见，那要看判断的必然性的依据是什么。就是说，我们对审美者的期待是什么？
康德把这个依据称为‘共通感’- 这是我们对美的感觉，也就是我们审美力的先验才能。换句话说，我们要假设每一个人都有‘共通感’，就是这个‘共通感’使我们可以传达主观的审美。这并不说每个人会同意我的判断，而是每个人理当赞同我的判断。
我们都知二加二等于四。我们假设当我们传达时这个信息时，其他人都明白或者说理当明白这个普世真理。相同的，我们也可以假设每人都有‘共通感’来接受我们传达主观的审美。
因此，康德说：‘撇开概念，美可以被认为是对审美对象的必然性的愉快的认知。’
注：共通感，英语common sense，就是常识。可是康德这里并不是指常识，而是说经验之外的知识。
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This is a difficult subject.
There is something about the beautiful that leads to a necessary reference on its part to delight, pleasure. The necessity which combines the judgment of the beautiful with delight is neither a theoretical nor a practical necessity. It is a necessity of a special kind and can only be termed exemplary. My aesthetic judgment, in short, is an example of a universal rule regarding beauty.
If we cannot formulate the principle of beauty in a rational or cognitive form, how is it possible for us to communicate to others the necessary components of the judgment of the beautiful? According to Kant, it depends on what is it that the necessity of the judgment is grounded upon; that is, what does it say about those who judge?
Kant called the ground 'common sense', by which he meant the a priori principle of our taste, that is, of our feeling for the beautiful. In other words, we must assume that there is a common sense in everyone to which we can communicate the subjective judgment of the beautiful. This does not mean that everyone will agree with my judgment, but rather everyone ought to agree with it.
We all know two plus two equals four. We can assume when we communicate this that other must understand this universal truth. So we also can assume that there is a common sense in everyone to which we can communicate the subjective judgment of the beautiful.
For this reason Kant says that ‘The beautiful is that which, apart from a concept, is cognized as an object of necessary delight.’
Note: 'Common Sense' here does not mean general knowledge about everyday things.

审美不预先假设目的 Aesthetic Judgments Do Not Presuppose an End or Purpose

美有两种：自由美和依存美。自由美对物体没有假设任何的概念，而依存美则已经假设该物体应为何物的概念，并以这些概念帮我们决定该物体美不美。
审美讲的是自由美。我们只要看了花朵一眼，就能知道花儿美不美丽，而不需要借助其他和花有关的知识。这就是这花朵实质的自由美，因为不需要引进其他概念，比如花的目的，来帮我们决定它是不是漂亮。
就是说，花朵呈现给我们的是它的最后形态，而我们就依据这个最后形态来决定它美不美。就算植物学家对这朵花有很多东西要说，可是他们对花的概念和我们决定花漂不漂亮完全扯不上关系。
另一方面，如果我们说一座建筑物漂亮，因为它完美地符合了建造该建筑物的目的，这就是依存美而不是纯粹审美判断。审美判断是要基于感觉的。
所以康德说：‘美就是物体的最后形态，只要我们不以其目的来理解它。’

注：Finality, 英文亦作 purposiveness 就是合目的性。说美要无目的而合目的性，是很难理解的。
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There are two types of beauty: free beauty and dependent beauty. Free beauty presupposes no concept of what the object should be and dependent beauty presupposes a concept of what that object should be, and that concept makes it possible for us to determine whether that object is beautiful or not.
Aesthetic judgment is concerned with free beauty. We can tell whether a flower is beautiful or not just by looking at it, without a need to have further knowledge about it. We say that the flower is a free beauty of matter, as there is no other concept connected with the flower, such as its purpose, that could help to determine whether it is beautiful.
In other words, the manner in which the flower presents itself to us is final and this finality provides the basis for judgment of its beauty. That is to say, even botanists may have many things to say about the flower, their concepts have no bearing on our judgment whether the flower is beautiful.
On the other hand, when we say a building is beautiful because it meets perfectly the purpose for which it is built, we do not have a pure aesthetic judgment based solely on feeling. This is dependent beauty.

Accordingly, Kant said: ‘Beauty is the form of finality in an object, so far as perceived in it apart from the representation of an end (or purpose).’

Note: Finality is also translated as Purposiveness. However, it is difficult to understand how a thing can be purposive, yet without having a definite purpose.

审美：美感具有普遍性 Aesthetic Judgments Behave Universally

康德谈到美感的普遍性。

如果我没有以私利或偏见来判断一件物体，那末我对它的美丽发表我的看法时，我的判断是‘自由/无约束’的。因为我的判断不被我的私利所影响，我有充足的理由相信，其他人如果同样的不被他们的私利所影响，他们也会做出相同的美丽结论。美感是普遍性的。

我们所讲的普遍性，与下列的两种情况是不同的：第一是如‘我爱蜜糖’之类的主观判断，因为它们不具，而我们也不期待它们具有普遍性。第二是如‘有糖的蜜糖是甜的’之类的客观判断。

美感的普遍性也是不能证明的，因为没有一个决定美感的准则。我们说我们喜欢一样东西，并不表示其他人也喜欢它。

审美不靠理性概念，而是靠知觉。所以康德说：美感非概念，令人得到普遍性的欢愉。

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Kant talked about the Universality of aesthetic judgment.

If my judgment that an object is beautiful is independent of any private interest or prejudice of mine, then my judgment is 'free' when I express my view that an object is beautiful. Because no interest peculiar or private to me is influencing my judgment, I have every reason to believe that others, similarly free of their private interest, would arrive at the same conclusion of beautiful. The aesthetic judgment is universal.

This universality is distinguished first from the mere subjectivity of judgments such as 'I like honey' (because that is not at all universal, nor do we expect it to be); and second from the strict objectivity of judgments such as 'honey contains sugar and is sweet'.

Judgment of beauty cannot, despite it's universal validity, be proved: there are no rules by which someone can be compelled to judge that something is beautiful. For in claiming simply that one likes something, one does not claim that everyone else ought to like it too.

The aesthetic judgment does not rest on any concept, but rather upon feeling. Kant therefore concluded that the beautiful is that which, apart from a concept, pleases universally.

审美愉快感是非功利性的 Aesthetic Judgments are Disinterested

我们说：美感就是愉快感。那么，愉快感就是美感吗？当然不是。

天气热，吃到冰淇淋，自是乐事。但这不是美感，因为这种愉快感是功利性的。这是感官快感。

别人有灾难，你帮了个大忙，对方感激涕零，亦是件大乐事。可是如果对方不领情，还对你破口大骂，你的感觉又如何呢？这其实是道德快感。

感官快感和道德快感的共同点是：由愉快产生判断。就是说，先把冰淇淋吃了才感觉好吃，帮了别人的忙后才感到心情舒畅。

审美愉快感刚好相反：由判断而产生愉快。就是说先看到了花，先认为它美才感觉到愉快，至于是不是毒花，那不是考虑的因素，因为审美是无功利性的。一样东西美不美，和它能不能给我带来好处和用处是没有关系的。

所以说情人眼里出西施，或者别人看到你的女朋友而惊为天人，是不是审美态度，那就难说了。当然，话说回来，找女朋友或未来太太，是不是要用审美的态度，那是个不同的话题了。

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Kant said: Aesthetic judgments are disinterested, meaning that we take pleasure in something because we judge it beautiful, rather than judging it beautiful because we find it pleasurable.

Interest is defined as a link to real desire and action, and thus also to a determining connection to the real existence of the object.

Certainly, I may wish to own the beautiful painting, or at least a copy of it, because I derive pleasure from it - but that pleasure, and thus that desire, is distinct from and parasitic upon the aesthetic judgment.

If there's a beautiful painting, or if there's a beautiful melody, you just want to enjoy it, you just want to absorb yourself in it, surrender yourself to it, you don't want to do anything with it, and you don't want to make use of it.

So in the same way, if you see a really beautiful woman, you just appreciated her as a beautiful woman, you wouldn't want to do anything with her, you'd just be quite happy gazing and gazing, appreciating her beauty.

But, needless to say, that's not our usual attitude, we don't usually see aesthetically, we see in terms of sensuous attractiveness hence craving springs up, or we see in terms of sensuous attractiveness because the craving is there, looking round, searching for an object.

Aesthetically speaking, it is the judgment that results in pleasure, rather than pleasure resulting in judgment.

美感是一种愉快感 Aesthetic Judgment and Pleasure

康德是个伟大的哲学家，也可说是近代美学之父。

他认为美是靠美感来判断的，而美感是一种愉快感。

美感是一种愉快感，看来是很明显的一回事。平时我们看到美好景色，事务，美女，心情当然应该是愉快的。美女当前，多看几眼，当然是因为感觉愉快美好啦。

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中国人一向是民以食为天。美者，羊大也。羊大之所以为美，则是因为大而肥的羊好吃的缘故。现在的人把好吃的东西通通都叫做‘美食’了。

What is the relation between the judgment that an object is beautiful and the feeling of pleasure?

Immanuel Kant describes the judgment of beauty as “based on” a feeling of pleasure.

Pleasure seems something obvious and even intimate to us when we see it in someone's smile, posture, or manner and when we can say right off that we are having a good time and enjoying ourselves.

For Kant "enjoyment" is the result when pleasure arises from sensation. But judging something to be "beautiful" has another requirement: sensation must give rise to pleasure by engaging our capacities of reflective contemplation. Judgments of beauty are sensory, emotional, and intellectual all at once for Kant.

中国审美：自然与法的协调 Chinese Aesthetics: The Unity of Regularity and Naturalness

中国美学中有两个看来相反但必须协调的观念：自然与法。

唐朝律诗，是要遵守许多法则的，平仄，押韵，字数行数对齐工整，等等，可是我们读诗人李白，杜甫，王维这些诗人的诗，感觉上或是自由奔放，浑成天然，或是刚雄浩大，总之是无斧凿之痕，一派自然的情态。

可见法与自然，是没有矛盾的。其实就是自然之法。自然之法是活法，不是死法。活法随时代而改变。所以不同时代的艺术家都尽情地追求他们自己的活法和创造梦想。

石涛说：“至人无法，非无法也，无法而法，乃为至法。”就是说艺人进入艺术创造的最高境界，无所束缚，可以从心所欲，不逾矩。

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Extracted from 'An Intercultural Perspective on Chinese Aesthetics' by

Karl-Heinz Pohl: Traditional Chinese poetics and art theory give weight to two seemingly contradictory notions: to naturalness (ziran) and regularity (fa).

The stunning aesthetic effect of this unity of opposites can best be observed and studied in the so-called “regular poems” (lüshi), flourishing in the golden age of Chinese poetry, the Tang dynasty (6th-10th cent. AD). These poems have to follow a strict set of rules concerning length and number of lines, tone patterns, parallelism and the like. And yet, reading the works of not only the greatest poets of that time, such as Du Fu, Li Bai or Wang Wei, one gets a feeling of absolute naturalness and ease, recalling Goethe’s dictum, that “true mastery only reveals itself in restriction” (In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister).....

The concept of unity of naturalness and regularity – in terms of following the rules of nature – was...... elaborated on by juxtaposing the notion of “living rules” (huo fa) against that of “dead rules” (si fa).....the Chinese traditional aesthetic ideal of a great work of poetry or art: that of a living, organic pattern, not dependent on rules derived from “orthodox” models or periods but following the rules of nature.

Such works come alive, creating their own rules, in each new period with each new poet-artist who is stirred by the world and its affairs. In painting, it was the influential unorthodox monk-painter Shitao (1641-1717) who pinpointed this idea with his famous notion of “no-rule” being the “ultimate rule” (wu fa er fa, nai wei zhi fa).