Basic theory of literary and artistic aesthetics·Scientific beauty
A new concept newly proposed in the scientific and technological circles and the aesthetic circles in recent years. Whether this concept can be established and how it should be understood is still controversial in academic circles and remains to be discussed.
French mathematician Poincare's famous book "Science and Method" raised the issue of "scientific beauty" and attracted everyone's attention. Poincaré believed that it is "an inner beauty that comes from the harmonious order of all parts and can be understood by pure reason."
Some comrades believe that scientific beauty, theoretical beauty, and law Beauty and spiritual beauty all exist and can be collectively called rational beauty, which is the beauty of the harmonious expression of law theory. Its characteristics are: abstract, rational, and non-intuitive, that is, it cannot be felt by human ears and eyes, but must obtain a rational understanding of the nature of things through human abstract thinking before it can produce pleasant emotions.
One of the bases is: Engels said that Hegel "summarized the entire development of philosophy in the most magnificent form in his own system." Liebknecht said that the style of Marx's critical theory work "Mr. Forster" is "joyful, witty, and reminds one of Shakespeare's joy in discovering a Falstaff and finding in him the infinite." The joy caused by the source of jokes! It has a comic effect similar to that of Shakespeare's plays. "Some scientists call the wonderful and solemn plane geometry system established by the ancient Greek Euclid's "Elements" as "magnificent." "Buildings", "stately structures", "lofty staircases". The scientific community calls Einstein's scientific achievement on general relativity "a great work of art" because it is "the most astonishing combination of philosophical insight, physical intuition and mathematical skill." British physicist Stephen Hawking broke the traditional view of "black holes" with his new insights into "black holes" and won the 1978 Einstein Prize. Some people say that his paper is "the unexpected and most beautiful paper in the history of physics." "One", as if Mozart could hold an entire symphony in his head.
The second basis is: scientists embody the essential laws of things, military strategists conceive complex battle situations, create clever tactics to defeat the enemy, master the laws of victory, and they can be happy. People will praise them for their spiritual enjoyment, and others will praise them for "what a beautiful job" they have done, and even say that they have mastered the art of military affairs. For the most complex problems, find the simplest solution, and use a high degree of skill to achieve ingenious coordination, harmony and unity of all parts, which Poincare calls "elegance".
The third basis is: beauty is not just an intuition of the image of things, it must be based on a rational understanding of things. Since reason can make scientific discoveries and give people a sense of beauty, it can be seen that reason and its results are also beautiful. Heisenberg, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, said that he was strongly attracted by the "simplicity" and "beauty" of the number system displayed in nature, and he was attracted by the "astonishing simplicity and completeness displayed by nature"* **. A Chinese parasitologist has lived by the West Lake for 17 years and has never swam across the West Lake once. He said that "the scientific beauty of the West Lake is better than the West Lake." Edison said: "Everything new and unusual can cause a kind of pleasure in the imagination."
The fourth basis is: the originally messy and complex arguments find a clear and perfect expression and an orderly internal structure, and the theoretical system acquires the structural beauty and rhythmic beauty of architecture and music, and will Many regulations are synthesized into a concise system form that is balanced, symmetrical, harmonious, and unified in various changes, which can make scientists delighted with these perfect forms. Diderot said: "The so-called beautiful problem in arithmetic refers to a problem that is difficult to solve, and the so-called beautiful solution refers to a simple answer to a difficult and complex problem."
The fifth basis is: Scientists delve into science with enthusiasm and enthusiasm, often inadvertently generating "inspiration" on seemingly unrelated things, which is the so-called "Eurera-like excitement" (Archimedes While bathing, I suddenly got the solution to the problem of whether the crown was mixed with silver. I was so excited that I forgot to put on my clothes. I shouted "Eurera" and rushed to the crown. Eurera means: I figured it out.
) is similar to an artist who obtains intuitive inspiration in image thinking. The pleasure generated at this time proves that the results of rational expression are beautiful and worthy of appreciation.
Another opinion is that beauty must be the pleasing attribute of the sensible image of things that can be directly felt by the ears and eyes. To say that scientific theories are beautiful works of art is just a metaphor. In fact, they are not works of art that satisfy people's aesthetic requirements, but science that allows people to theoretically understand the nature and laws of things. They cause people joy, which can be said to be similar to the joy caused by literary and artistic works, but they are not literary works after all. Scientists must immerse themselves wholeheartedly in scientific problems that deal with complex clues, factors, and structures. They are full of emotions and meticulous conception, and are similar to artists; they handle technical problems very skillfully and flexibly, and they can be said to have superb artistry, but After all, their achievements are not works of art, and they do not mainly appeal to aesthetic feelings or move people with emotion, but rather appeal to rational understanding and convince people with reason. Artistic creation pursues beauty, expresses the author's aesthetic feelings in the work, and infects the readers' feelings. Science pursues truth. When making arguments and conclusions, it should abandon the author's subjective feelings and exaggerated and gorgeous expressions.
Although aesthetics requires rational understanding as the prerequisite for the intuition of an image, it is not rational understanding after all. Beauty is a pleasant emotional state, but not all pleasant emotional states are aesthetics. When you succeed in something in daily life, when you get something you have longed for, when there is rain after a long drought, when you have food and clothing after a long time of hunger and cold, when scientists discover patterns and generate inspiration, you will all be happy, but this is not a sense of beauty. Beauty is the pleasant emotion caused by viewing the beauty of things. Scientists will be happy when they discover patterns in inspiration, and artists will be happy when they discover beautiful images in inspiration, but this does not mean that the patterns discovered in inspiration are beautiful.
The scientific theoretical system has a symmetrical, harmonious, diverse and beautiful form, is artistic, meets certain requirements of formal beauty, and can be used as an aesthetic object. However, these formal beauties are relatively weak, and are far less pleasing to the eye and attractive than the formal beauties of landscapes, paintings, and dances. As for the grandeur, majesty, majesty, beauty, and solemnity of the inner structure of the entire scientific system, it is not something that ordinary people can directly feel and appreciate with their audio-visual sense organs. It requires knowledgeable experts to fully understand the scientific content and system before they can feel it. It is mainly an understanding obtained through abstract generalization based on rational thinking, so it is not mainly a formal beauty that can be generally appreciated by the masses.
Scientific theories, in general and in the main, are not aesthetic objects. Scientists also have emotions, imagination, fantasy, inspiration, intoxicating pursuits, ingenious skills in dealing with complex problems, joy in discovering goals and achieving them, expressing content in beautiful forms, etc. In these aspects, it is similar to artistic creation, and its results may also have elements of beauty, but generally speaking it is not an aesthetic object. It should be noted that there is currently a tendency to infinitely expand the field of aesthetics, add the word "beautiful" to everything, and call many objects that are not sensory appreciation "××beautiful". This will actually lead to the cancellation of aesthetic characteristics. Just like artists, they must also have a scientific spirit and attitude of seeking truth from facts and implement it in their creations. Great works of art can also be compared to scientific treatises with great systems. But art is not science after all. If we want to infinitely expand the field of science, we must To say that works of art and daily conversations are science is equivalent to canceling science.
Without confusing the difference between science and art, it is necessary to study the similarities and similarities between the two, and to carry out discussions on the horizontal intersection, mutual penetration and inspiration of multiple disciplines.