Comment on "Theoretical evaluation of art education from the perspective of traditional Chinese philosophy"

Yanling Cao[1]

Commented article: ZHENG, X. D. Theoretical Evaluation of Art Education from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Philosophy. Trans/Form/Ação: revista de filosofia da Unesp, v. 47, n. 4, “Eastern thought”, e02400123, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/15024.

Zheng (2024) holds that art education, as an important way to cultivate people's aesthetic accomplishment, creativity and humanistic quality, has a profound and diverse theoretical basis. From simple to deep, starting from the traditional Chinese philosophy, as the spiritual treasure of Chinese civilization, its unique philosophical view, methodology and aesthetic concept have a profound influence on the art education theory and deeply analyzes the relationship between traditional Chinese literature and the art education theory and its guiding significance (Hofsess, 2018, p. 49). Here, we make some suggestions. This might be interpreted as a more varied approach to investigating the combination of Chinese traditional cultural philosophy and contemporary art education.

As an important way to cultivate people's aesthetic accomplishment, creativity and humanistic accomplishment, art education has a profound and diversified theoretical basis. As the spiritual treasure of Chinese civilization, the unique Chinese traditional philosophy, methodology and aesthetic concept have exerted a profound influence on the theory of art education. Evaluating the theory of art education from the perspective of traditional Chinese philosophy provides a new theoretical perspective and practical guidance for modern art education.

The core thought of the Chinese traditional philosophy and its enlightenment for art education point out the early origin of art education theory in the background of Marxism. After looking for "multicultural art courses", the research found hundreds of courses and analyzed the first 100 free visual art courses (Buffington; Amanda, 2019, p. 20). As a result, as society continues to evolve, so does the field of art education theory research.

At the same time, Zheng (2024) always emphasizes the spirit of holism and harmony. He also put forward the word "unity", pointing out that traditional Chinese philosophy emphasizes holism and advocates the harmony between heaven and man, and the harmony between things and self. The concept of "harmony" in Confucian philosophy not only refers to the harmony between people, but also refers to the harmony between man and nature, and even refers to the harmony of all things in the universe.

However, although Zheng (2024) describes "harmony and unity," he provides little comparative analysis and fails to point out that Taoist philosophy further emphasizes the idea of "conformity to nature," and that the beauty of nature is also a philosophical idea of harmony and unity put forth by Confucius. These two are unified and indispensable to each other, so they should also be mentioned in the text.

Zheng (2024) not only with the Chinese traditional philosophy as the breakthrough point, and understood the Chinese and Western, using speculative spirit and innovative consciousness, such as the interpretation of Confucius and different dialectical views, and then cited the formation of modern art education, in the western enlightenment philosophers, such as Descartes, Kant, Hume, clearly put forward their views. Comparative analysis can be used to better comprehend the critical thought processes of artists across national boundaries and to identify novel forms of expression, aesthetic experiences, and innovative solutions.

Through the understanding of traditional philosophy, Zheng (2024) specifically explains the concept of secret education, pointing out that secret education refers to the art educators through the "one-to-one" or "one-to-one" teaching of their art skills and practical experience (Simamora, 2020, p. 86). This paragraph has clarified the importance of art education, and its development continuously develops and changes with the changes of The Times.

Zheng (2024) advocates the educational concept of "virtue". Concerning the relationship between traditional philosophy and art education, Zheng said that China is an ancient country with a history of 5,000 years of civilization, and its influence on morality is very important in traditional Chinese education. Chinese traditional art education takes "promoting the Tao" as its responsibility, and "Tao" is the result of moral education (Bertling; Tara, 2020, p. 382). In art education, the first thing teachers need to do is to develop students’ character (Machin et al., 2020, p. 1). Traditional Chinese artworks are abstract, pen-and-ink, and expressive. These qualities, which are drawn from poetry, should be able to arouse people's moral curiosity and emotional resonance. As a result, in art education, students should be encouraged to express their feelings and ideas.

The theoretical evaluation of art education from the perspective of traditional Chinese philosophy is objective and in line with the current development of Chinese education. Starting from the connotation of traditional Chinese philosophy, Zheng (2024) believes that the current development of Chinese art education faces great opportunities. The traditional Chinese philosophy profoundly reveals the connotation of art education, positively instructing the development of the methods, systems, and strategies of art education, and also playing an important role in promoting the construction of Chinese art education (Sunday; Kathleen, 2020, p. 8). The theory of art education from the perspective of Chinese traditional philosophy is the inheritance and innovation of local culture. Under the background of globalization, countries around the world are profoundly changing their concept of art education, which has had a huge impact on Chinese art education (Kell, 2007, p. 125). Art education is faced with the influence and challenge of foreign culture. Only by thoroughly excavating and inheriting the essence of Chinese traditional culture and integrating it into art education can we improve our cultural awareness, self-confidence, and cultural creativity to enhance our competitiveness on the international stage.

References

BERTLING, J. G.; TARA, C. M. A portrait of environmental integration in United States K-12 art education. Environmental Education Research, v. 27, n. 3, p. 382, 2020.

BUFFINGTON, M. L.; AMANDA, B. Changing practice: Culturally sustaining pedagogy in art education. Art education, v. 72, n. 2, p. 20, 2019.

HOFSESS, B. A. Blueprinting a Poetics of Materiality. International Journal of Education through Art, v. 14, n. 1, p. 49, 2018.

KELL, R. The Progress of Art. Critical Survey, v. 19, n. 2, p. 125, 2007.

MACHIN, L. L.; WILLIAMS, R. A.; FRITH, L. Proposing a Sociology of Donation: The Donation of Body Parts and Products for Art, Education, Research, or Treatment. Sociology compass, v. 14, n. 10, p. 1, 2020.

SIMAMORA, R. M. The Challenges of Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Essay Analysis of Performing Arts Education Students. Studies in Learning and Teaching, v. 1, n. 2, p. 86, 2020.

SUNDAY, K.; KATHLEEN, C. Drawing at the Center of an Emergent Preschool Curriculum. Art Education, v. 73, n. 6, p. 8, 2020.

ZHENG, X. D. Theoretical Evaluation of Art Education from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Philosophy. Trans/Form/Ação: revista de filosofia da Unesp, v. 47, n. 4, “Eastern thought”, e02400123, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/15024.

Received: 15/08/2024 – Approved: 18/08/2024 – Published: 30/09/2024

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School of Industrial Design and Ceramic Art, Foshan University, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, 528225 -China. ORCID: 0009-0008-3219-3472. E-mail: cylfosu@163.com.

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