The 1 letter in On Beauty Letters mainly talks about the method of learning aesthetics. Zhu Guangqian first pointed out that people who are determined to study any science should have a correct attitude towards life and a clear understanding of the direction, "honestly, tell the truth and do honest things." All dishonest people will not take the right path if they do any scientific work that requires seeking truth from facts. At the same time, it is pointed out that "if people who study aesthetics don't learn a little literature, art, psychology, history and philosophy, it will be a greater deficiency." He also pointed out that mastering one or two foreign languages, fully possessing information, studying and writing around a certain problem, and concentrating on the war of annihilation are effective methods.
Zhu Guangqian said in his third letter: "When talking about beauty, we should start with people, because beauty is a kind of value and value belongs to the economic category. Whether it is used or exchanged, it is always inseparable from people. " Therefore, the study of beauty can never be separated from people, and aesthetics is gradually developed with the study of people. It is believed that researchers are the golden key to open the aesthetic palace. Of course, the study of people is first and foremost an anthropological study. Anthropology is a science that studies people as a species. As far as aesthetics is concerned, the research results of anthropology mainly answer a question, that is, the origin of art. When talking about the origin of art, Gulus and Plekhan Joff believe that art originated from daily life practices, such as eating and dressing, men marrying women and so on. In modern times, man has become the object of psychological research. Psychology simplifies the complex material exchange process between people and external things into a process from stimulus to reaction, which is divided into three parts: knowledge (cognition), emotion (emotion) and will (will). Early psychology was attached to philosophy, and most philosophers attached importance to cognition and ignored practice. So at that time, psychology was limited to the part from sensory nerve to brain center, from brain center to motor nerve, that is, from emotion, thinking, will to action, which was rarely mentioned. 17,18th century is still an unknown secret. Although various schools of psychology have made unique contributions to the study of human beings, they can't reveal the all-round essence of human beings after all. The reason is that they all cut the whole person into several pieces, and pick out one of them, just like a blind man touching an elephant, no one can tell. This research method of "mechanical view" originated from Newtonian physics. Since19th century, new progress has been made in the study of human beings. Some scholars abandoned the "mechanical view" and adopted the "organic view" method, which originated from biology and organic chemistry. It is different from the "mechanistic view", which does not regard people's psychological function as a part that can be disassembled and combined at will, but as an interrelated and inseparable living whole. Goethe holds an "organic view", and Marx 1844' s Economics-Philosophy Manuscript and Engels' Dialectics of Nature from Ape to Man are further developments on the basis of the "organic view". Marx and Engels not only emphasized the unity of man and nature (I and things), but also emphasized the unity of various "essential forces" in man's body and mind, which is of fundamental significance to solving the basic problems of aesthetics.
In Zhu Guangqian's seventh letter, he mainly analyzed rhythm, empathy and internal imitation from the perspective of physiology and psychology, which deserves attention and needs to be re-evaluated and studied. The author thinks that rhythm is the common element of the three most primitive and universal art trinity: music, dance and singing. Rhythm exists not only in works of art, but also in human physiological activities. The natural and regular ups and downs of organs such as breathing, circulation and movement in the human body are rhythms. If the rhythm of the aesthetic object conforms to the physiological and natural rhythm of the human body, people will feel harmonious and happy, otherwise they will feel "awkward" or "uncoordinated" and unhappy. The so-called empathy means that when people concentrate on an object (natural or artistic works), they "project" or transfer people's life and interest to it because they forget it, so as to achieve the identity of the object and me, and make inanimate and interesting things look like human life activities. Originally, only physical things also have people's feelings. There are empathy factors in most of China's poems about objects, such as Li Bai's "Never tire of looking at each other, only respecting Tingshan." Du Fu's "Where there are tears, lonely birds sing their sorrows". Empathy comes from me and things, and inner imitation is empathy, just focusing on things and my side. Internal imitation is from a physiological point of view, with Gullers as the main representative. Taking horse racing as an example, Gulus said that people don't really imitate the horse's movements when watching horse racing, but his body and mind are also nervous. He is really imitating with information and enjoying the pleasure brought by this imitation. Thus, internal imitation has the nature of a game. If the impulse to exercise is too strong, internal imitation becomes imitation of behavior. For example, after watching Goethe's Young Werther, some teenagers try to imitate Werther's suicide, which is no longer aesthetic. Zhu Guangqian thinks that the "imposing manner" and "verve" in China's literary theory and the "vivid verve" in his painting theory are all realized through internal imitation. China's calligraphy often shows his personality, and Yan Zhenqing's words, like his personality, have awe-inspiring character; Zhao Mengfu's handwriting is as delicate and charming as his personality, and both sides are round. When we appreciate the word Yan, we can't help but sit still and imitate his dignity and fortitude; When you appreciate Zhao Zi, you can't help relaxing your muscles and imitating his graceful posture.
In the eighth letter, Zhu Guangqian believes that literary and artistic creation should focus on thinking in images, supplemented by abstract thinking. He thinks that thinking in images is imagination. In the west, Philo Schula in ancient Rome and Bacon in modern England both emphasized the role of imagination in literary and artistic creation. In ancient China, Qu Yuan used the word "imagination" in Travel Far, and Du Fu used the word "imagination" in Ode to Monuments. Thinking in images means thinking in images. Imaginary thinking and abstract thinking are two different forms of thinking, but their functions are the same. They both use their brains to master and solve problems in real life. They are both practical and cognitive activities. The difference is the form they use. Thinking is divided into two stages. In the first stage, we master the images of specific things, such as sound, color, shape and taste, which are usually called feelings, impressions, ideas or appearances. Both image thinking and abstract thinking have gone through this stage; In the second stage, it shows different characteristics: image thinking arranges various images obtained from perceptual knowledge to achieve a certain purpose, and abstract thinking analyzes and synthesizes many perceptual images to find out the concepts, principles or laws of each kind of things; Image thinking leaps from initial perceptual knowledge to vivid and concrete typical images, and abstract thinking leaps from initial perceptual knowledge to abstract concepts or conclusions.