Recently, a lecture titled Aesthetics: Literature, Methods, and Discursive Imagination, delivered by Professor Zhou Xian, a senior professor of the humanities at Nanjing University, was successfully held at the 614 Lecture Hall in Building 1 of Chengjun Yuan, Zijingang Campus. The lecture was hosted by Zhang Jiafeng, a distinguished associate researcher at the Institute of Aesthetics and Critical Theory at the university.
Zhou Xian began by discussing the current state of the discipline of aesthetics, noting that contemporary aesthetics is witnessing a trend of academicized knowledge production. He emphasized that a healthy humanities discipline should not only inherit and develop knowledge but also actively engage with the present. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a participatory aesthetics that directly addresses contemporary issues and fosters philosophical reflection. To advance aesthetics research today, it is crucial to master the literature and methods of the discipline while also utilizing its imaginative potential.
Focusing on the literature of the aesthetics discipline, Zhou Xian quoted Thomas Kuhn's classic view in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, emphasizing the importance of paradigms and standard literature. He pointed out the differences between the sciences and humanities, where science seeks the latest, single, universally applicable answers, progressing linearly. In contrast, the humanities focus on history, allow for multiple answers, and are cumulative. Thus, the humanities are disciplines concerned with textuality, humanity, and self-understanding, making the review of past literature particularly significant.
Building on this, Zhou Xian analyzed the concepts of literature and bibliography, and specifically explained the three levels of aesthetics literature: the first level consists of basic literature, which includes original materials directly related to the research topic, such as primary texts from a specific period or author. These texts are essential reading; the second level includes secondary literature, which is research based on primary texts and can be cited to support one’s own research; the third level consists of tertiary literature, which summarizes secondary literature, typically outlining the research progress in a field, helping researchers get quickly acquainted with the subject. These three types of literature are interrelated and form the knowledge system of the humanities.
Zhou Xian then mentioned several important types of literature, including literature guides, academic history, aesthetics readers, and aesthetic dictionaries, and recommended numerous books beneficial to the study of aesthetics, such as Art History Literature Guide, Modern History of Aesthetics, and Modern Aesthetics Reader.
He stressed that having solid literature does not necessarily lead to high-level research, but without solid literature, high-level research is impossible. Academic research must begin with literature, as high-quality literature can propel researchers toward higher-level studies.
In the discussion of aesthetic methodology, Zhou Xian pointed out that the choice of methods should stem from the research question and existing literature. On one hand, researchers must clarify the question and seek effective and appropriate paths; on the other hand, they should widely read literature to identify methodological approaches. Different forms of aesthetic knowledge employ different methodologies. Zhou Xian discussed the different research methods used in philosophical aesthetics, empirical aesthetics, and interdisciplinary aesthetics.
He then emphasized the issue of interdisciplinary methodology, stating that interdisciplinary aesthetics research should center on aesthetics, with other methods integrated into the aesthetic approach, always guided by the research question to select appropriate and reasonable methods.
Additionally, Zhou Xian noted the theoretical turns since the 20th century, such as the linguistic turn, cultural turn, interpretive turn, and visual turn. Each of these turns has shifted the focus and methods of humanities research to varying degrees, presenting a trend of diversification and dynamism. Therefore, research methods must be flexibly chosen according to theoretical trends and specific problems.
At the end of the lecture, Zhou Xian discussed the disciplinary imagination of aesthetics with the students. He used C. Wright Mills' concept of sociological imagination as a starting point, arguing that disciplinary imagination should not be limited to the continuation of existing knowledge but should be the ability to creatively transform perspectives and reexamine and reconstruct disciplinary problems. The sociological imagination advocated by Mills can also be applied to aesthetics, helping people imagine and reconstruct aesthetic issues from new perspectives.
Currently, aesthetics faces a dual challenge of traditional and emerging issues. It must address classic aesthetic problems while also responding to the new questions arising from the unprecedented changes of our time. What concepts, methods, and resources can aesthetics offer today, and how can Chinese aesthetics break through in the global academic division of knowledge? These questions must be answered with the imagination of the aesthetics discipline.
Zhou Xian concluded by stating that the future exploration of aesthetics should not only follow the discipline's traditional look backward approach, reassessing historical resources and constantly inventing traditions, but also have the courage to look forward, embrace technological advancements, utilize new tools to drive methodological innovations, and stimulate the vitality of the aesthetics discipline.