Welcome to Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art,

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2014, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (3): 181-194.

• Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Criticism • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Autonomy of Art and the Justice of Aesthetics

Xu Dai   

  1. the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Zhejiang University
  • Online:2014-06-25 Published:2014-07-06
  • About author:Xu Dai is a distinguished professor and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Zhejiang University, with research interests covering aesthetics and poetics, intercultural criticism and the study of Chinese contemporary novels.

Abstract: To promote aesthetic justice is to re-incorporate contemporary aesthetics into the life world by way of ethnics and to bring out theoretical significance for the present. From the view of logic, the issue of "the autonomy of art" may be argued to be essential for the practice-oriented ethic aesthetics. Different views on this issue may be understood as what Wittgenstein called the misunderstanding of the words, and they do not conceal the essence of the problem and there has no fundamental confliction between these apparently chaotic views. The paper maintains that the investigation of aesthetic justice has to be preceded with "the autonomy of art" as its premise.

Key words: autonomy of art, aesthetic justice, ethic aesthetics