Two Dimensions of Aesthetic

Aesthetics should have two dimensions: aesthetics as knowledge/science and aesthetics as life/culture,or “systematic aesthetics” and “aesthetic culture” for short.Systematic aesthetics is a kind of theory,while aesthetic culture is the study of facts.Systematic aesthetics is constituted by concepts,propositions,and arguments,while main elements in aesthetic culture are aesthetic consciousness,aphorisms,and descriptions.By expanding the dimension of aesthetic culture for aesthetics,we can transcend the epistemological orientation of aesthetics and dissolve the opposition between theory and practice.To go beyond epistemological orientation of aesthetics is not to deny that aesthetics is a kind of science or knowledge,but to argue that aesthetics need not be confined to science or knowledge.While aesthetics as knowledge/science originates from the West,aesthetics as life/culture is possessed by nonWestern cultures as well.In the sense of aesthetic culture,it should be recognized that aesthetics already existed in ancient China.Chinese aesthetics,like Japanese aesthetics,gains legitimacy through the aestheticcultural dimension of aesthetics.“Chinese aesthetics” also has two dimensions,namely,the dimension of ancient aesthetic culture and the dimension of modern systematic aesthetics,the former need not to be claimed as universality,while the latter can pursue it.