Volume 9, 2018
Confucian Philosophy
Zhang Haiyan
Pages 115-120
“Good by Beauty” or “Unification of Beauty and Good”
Comparison of Aesthetic Status in Kant’s and Mou Zong-san’s Theory
Both Kant’s and Mou Zong-san’s aesthetics have its own moral idea. The central concept of Kant’s theory (free will) is only a postulate by which beauty connects nature and freedom and beauty can be free of the dependency of good. Kant’s great works “Three Critics” reveal that and emphasize on the independency of beauty, which regards beauty as the intermedium of “Beauty by Good”. But the central concept of Mou Zong-san’s moral metaphysics (goodness) is the noumenon of “Unification of Noumenon and Function”. It means the dependency of objectivity on subjectivity, transcendent on empirical, then beauty have the moral connotation and the meaning of empirical experiences. Beauty is brought into the field of goodness and loses its independency, and then beauty is united into morality and under the shadow of good. In conclusion, Kant’s theory unfolds the western tradition of reason and Mou Zon-san’s theory unfolds the oneness of Chinese tradition.