04第四章为粗鄙服务的美学.docx

1、04第四章为粗鄙服务的美学第四章 为粗鄙服务的美学美学中有某些观点，应该得到处理；可到目前为止，我一直尽可能地避免与之发生正面冲突。我之所以宁肯对美学敬而远之，是因为美学是某种险象环生的沼泽地，最好是尽可能地避开它。不幸的是，若是严肃地论及艺术，避开美学实际上是不可能的，因为即便美学是你忍受不了的物事之一，可它也是那种缺了它你也办不了事儿的东西之一。我疑心本书的讨论已经到达了这么一种生死攸关的十字路口：在这里，我们必得把艺术和非艺术之间的界线划分清楚。这个划界问题，在过去这一百年里，一直是最要紧的问题。为了这个目的，我们别无选择，只好对在二十世纪后半期提出的某些美学观点论列一番，哪怕说得简单一

2、些也好。那些观点，自称自诩要减少艺术这个领域的这团混乱，实际上只是乱上添乱，并同时对艺术造成了可怕的伤害。由于这个原因，由于别无选择，我将和读者一道，尽可能通过一条近便的路跨过这片沼泽，以期在彼岸登上比较踏实而多产的土地。Up to this point I have as far as possible avoided a direct confrontation with certain views in aesthetics that should be dealt with; I preferred to avoid this because in most cases aesthet

3、ics is a kind of treacherous swamp which it is best to bypass if at all possible. Unfortunately, when dealing seriously with art it is really impossible to escape aesthetics, since even if it is one of the things you cannot abide, it is also one of those that you cannot do without. I suspect that th

4、e discussion in this book has reached the critical crossroads at which an attempt must be made to clarify the demarcation lines between art and nonart, which has been the most crucial problem of art in the last hundred years. For this purpose there is no choice but to deal, at least briefly, with ce

5、rtain views in aesthetics put forward in the second half of the twentieth century, which claimed to reduce the perplexity in this domain but in practice only increased it, while at the same time causing dreadful harm to art. For this reason, for lack of choice I shall attempt to cross the swamp toge

6、ther with the reader by as short a path as possible, in the hope that we shall reach firmer and more fertile ground on the other side. 美学中普遍的混乱状态的好大一部分，好像是起于这么一个事实：“艺术”这个词牵扯的物事太多了；这些物事，在某些方面，有某种共同点；在另一些方面，一个共同点也没有。由于这个原因，为了使我们的讨论免得枝蔓和不必要的混乱，我愿意强调，在整个这一章书中，本书的全部其他章节也一样，每当我使用“艺术”这个词的时候，我的意思首先是指视觉艺术，主要

7、是指绘画，而不见得是指文学、戏剧、音乐、舞蹈等等。如果本章和其后的其他章节，呈现了一个解决艺术和非艺术的界线问题的正确方向，那么即便这仅只涉及到绘画，比起如今在这个领域里甚嚣尘上的那种混乱局面来说，这也是一个巨大的进步。It appears that a considerable part of the confusion common in aesthetics arises from the fact that the word art relates to too many things that have in some respects a certain common denomi

8、nator and in other respects have none. For this reason, so as to focus the discussion and prevent unnecessary confusion, I wish to emphasize that throughout this chapter, as in all other chapters of the book, wherever I use the word art my intention is first and foremost visual art and chiefly paint

9、ing, but not necessarily literature, drama, music, dance etc. If the discussion in this and other later chapters presents a valid direction for the solution of the problem of demarcation between art and nonart, even only with regard to painting, this will be an enormous improvement as against the ch

10、aotic situation that prevails in this domain today. 正如在“导言”中提到的那样，关于现代主义的批评的主要毛病，迄今为止是那些论著把蹩脚认作艺术，或者是瞻前顾后地提出怀疑那是不是艺术；230但它决不解释为什么那完全不是艺术。有鉴于此，本书所提出的试金石明明白白地不是它对现代主义的批评有多么严厉，而是它在多大程度上成功地开辟出一条更清楚而可行的路子，来把艺术和非艺术甄别开来。于是我们就身不由己地陷进了艺术定义问题之中。一方面，从柏拉图以至于今，那些为艺术领域操心的人的一块儿心病，一直就是试图解决这个定义问题。另一方面，针对这一问题迄今提出的全部答

11、案，或是多少有些片面，或是仅仅是嘴上说要提出解决方案而已，可简单地一分析，就能表明那些答案的中肯性相当有限，或者就是完全的空虚无物。本书的核心观点是：现代主义是一种文化疾病，它出现在西方文化当中，出现在完全把艺术的边界取消了的这样一种背景下。由于这个原因，艺术的定义或甄别问题，就是对现代主义的任何严肃的重新评价的一个必要的组成部分。As mentioned in the introduction to this book, the chief drawback of the criticism concerning modernism is, that they all point out i

12、ts shortcomings as art, or hesitantly raise a doubt whether it is art; but in no case is it explained why it is not art at all. In the light of this, it is clear that the real test of this book is not the measure of radicalness of its criticism of modernism, but rather the degree to which it succeed

13、s in setting out a clearer and more feasible way of distinguishing between art and nonart. We are then drawn willy-nilly into the problem of the definition of art the attempts to solve which have on the one hand been the hearts desire of all those who have concerned themselves with that domain since

14、 Plato and until this day. On the other hand, all of the solutions so far proposed to this problem are either more or less partial; or merely claim to propose solutions, whereas a simple analysis suffices to show that their relevance is quite limited, or that they are completely hollow. The central

15、argument of this book is that modernism is a cultural malady that appeared in western culture on the background of the complete elimination of the boundaries of art. For this reason the problem of the demarcation or definition of art is necessarily an integral part of any serious reassessment of mod

16、ernism. 美学的贫困艺术的定义问题，当然完全不是个新问题，而是和美学一样古老。但是，只要艺术在一种有效的范式的框架中发挥着功能，那么美学家们没能找到什么清楚的路子来把艺术和非艺术甄别开来，这一事实就谈不上有什么重要性，因为甚至在柏拉图在开始对艺术的性质进行哲学讨论之前，艺术就已经好好运行了几万年了。同样，哲学家们在他们内部就什么构成了艺术这个问题争吵了大约2300年，可艺术家们却一如既往地创造，哪里在乎哲学家们那些五花八门的意见，哪里在乎哲学家们对艺术的性质这个问题达不成一致意见这个事实。The problem of the definition of art is of course

17、not at all new, but as old as aesthetics. But so long as art functioned within the framework of an effective paradigm, no importance attached to the fact that the aestheticians had not succeeded in finding any clear way of distinguishing between art and nonart, for art functioned well even thousands

18、 of years before Plato began the philosophical discussion of the nature of art. Likewise, while the philosophers argued among themselves for some 2300 years about the question of what constitutes art, the artists continued to create without regard to the various opinions of the philosophers, and wit

19、hout any regard to the fact that the latter could reach no agreement among themselves as to the nature of art. 作为一种视觉语言，艺术无论如何也丝毫不依赖于美学；事实恰恰相反。别的不说，美学家在任何意义上都依靠试图以概念性的语言对我们称之为艺术的那种视觉语言的诸多产品的性质进行解释而得活命。只要艺术在形象范式当中发挥着功能，艺术定义问题就仅仅是个哲学问题，而不是艺术或艺术家的问题，这是因为这一范式的视觉符号体系，以视觉的术语含蓄地为绘画规定了边界。那就是说，几万年来，艺术和美学沿着平行

20、线，各走各的道，井水不犯河水，艺术家们也不见得能意识到美学的存在。只要艺术在形象范式当中发挥着功能，美学对艺术究竟有多大程度的用处，此事非常可疑；但清楚的是，美学起码也不曾为非作歹。Art as a visual language is not in the least dependent upon aesthetics in any way; quite the contrary. The aestheticians in every sense live upon their attempts, among other things, to interpret in a conceptua

21、l language the nature of the products of the visual language that we call art. So long as art functioned within the figurative paradigm, the problem of the definition of art was only a philosophical problem, and not a problem of art or of artists, since the visual symbol system of this paradigm defi

22、ned the boundaries of painting implicitly and in visual terms. That is to say, for thousands of years art and aesthetics moved along parallel lines, with no necessary connection between them, and without the artists necessarily being aware of the existence of aesthetics. So long as art functioned wi

23、thin the figurative paradigm, it is very doubtful whether aesthetics was to any extent useful to art, but it is clear that at least it did it no harm. 艺术定义问题开始和艺术发生关系，甚至对艺术和艺术家至关重要，这事儿的发生仅仅是在这么个时候：艺术曾经拥有的那个范式崩溃了，却无其他范式取而代之；231艺术成了一片荒地，任是什么人都可以在其中任着性子胡作非为，任是什么人都可以任着性子胡乱解释。现在，为艺术和非艺术的区分标准而下一个概念性的定义的需要

24、，就成了作为文化分枝的艺术继续存在下去的一个必要条件。因为，一方面，在二十世纪，各种新艺术运动的大杂烩沉渣泛起，声称自己和艺术关系亲善，哪管事实上并没有什么标准来把这些运动设立为真的是属于艺术运动还是不属于艺术运动，哪管在二十世纪开始之后这些运动实际上并没有什么重要的共同点，使大家相信它们是艺术。另一方面，如果艺术真的陷入了范式危机，正如本书自始至终所主张的那样，那么，如果发现不了那条区别的界线，要为未来的艺术建立一个新范式也是不可能的。The problem of the definition of art began to be relevant and even crucial to a

25、rt and to artists only when the one paradigm it had ever had collapsed, and no other arose to replace it, and art became a waste land in which everyone might do as he wished, and which everyone might interpret as he wished. Now the need for a conceptual definition of criteria for the distinction bet

26、ween art and nonart became a necessary condition for the continued existence of art as a branch of culture. For on the one hand, in the twentieth century a motley of new movements were generated which claimed for themselves an affiliation with art, despite the fact that there are no criteria for est

27、ablishing whether these movements really belong to art or not, and despite the fact that they have no significant common denominator with what, until the beginning of the twentieth century, was considered to be art. On the other hand, if art is indeed in a paradigmatic crisis, as will be maintained

28、throughout this book, then without the discovery of these demarcation lines it will also not be possible to build a new paradigm for art in the future. 艺术的处境相当严重，因为，一方面，作为视觉思想家的艺术家们，不具备理论工具来提供艺术和非艺术的区别标准的概念性定义；另一方面，美学家们，据说拥有提出这么一种区分标准的理论工具，可事实上，直到如今他们也没有成功地建立一种令人满意的区分方法。二十世纪的艺术危机，把美学的贫困揭发得体无完肤，因为有史以

29、来的第一次，出现了这么一种情况：艺术真的需要美学知识，而美学却无能于提供这种拯救。更糟糕的是，不去严肃地问问一个小便器、或者把颜色泼在画布上、或者经过扭曲的废品究竟是不是艺术品，某些美学家却默不做声，另一些去找定义艺术的新路子，其方式是，任是什么东西都能够捏弄成艺术品。不是把陷入杀人狂状态的一群艺术家带往新的福地，美学家们却亦步亦趋，对艺术家们留下的那堆废墟啧啧称奇。不去净化艺术的神庙，他们倒对恶俗顶礼膜拜。“导言”里提到过几个人，可人数寥若晨星，多少提高了嗓门争辩艺术已经失去了方向；但这些人的声音，却被主宰着艺术的商业、骗局和装腔作势的喧嚣吞没了。艺术危机的积极方面之一，是它为美学家们提供了

30、一个历史机遇，以便第一次为艺术做出绝对必要的贡献，方法是心不旁骛地专注于解决艺术的甄别问题。这么一种解决方案是需要的，不是为了学术的目的，而是为了把艺术从一片废墟当中解救出来，是为了保证艺术在将来还能存在。本书的下卷，于是就试图指出一种新路子，来解决艺术中的甄别问题，方法是把艺术的本质植根于对心灵本质的某种解释之中。尽管我提出的解决办法有一些局限，但我希望它将唤醒其他理论家的兴趣，让他们也费费心思，试着解决一下这个问题。The situation of art is particularly serious because on the one hand artists as visual t

31、hinkers do not possess the tools for supplying the conceptual definition of criteria for the distinction between art and nonart, and on the other hand, the aestheticians who supposedly have the conceptual tools for the proposal of such a distinction, in actual fact have not succeeded to this day in

32、constructing a satisfactory distinction. The crisis of art in the twentieth century revealed the full poverty of aesthetics, since when for the first time in history a situation emerged in which art really demanded the knowledge of aesthetics, the latter was unable to offer salvation. Worse still, i

33、nstead of asking seriously whether a urinal, or color poured over a canvas, or crushed waste are really works of art, some aestheticians kept silent, and others sought new ways of defining art in such a way that anything at all could be made a work of art. Instead of leading to new pastures the herd of artists who had run amok, they trailed after it,