New Aesthetics in History: The Changes of Idealism

Abstract: This research examines how new aesthetics have been used to share cultural values across different eras in Western and Eastern cultures, including the ancient, medieval, modern capitalist, and Marxist communist periods. Three aesthetic approaches—aesthetic concepts, state of mind, and aesthetic objects—are used to analyse evidence of new aesthetic experiences through architecture, visual arts, and literature with the support of philosophies to argue that new aesthetics are as integral to the organic completion of the human condition in societies as changes in idealism. To present evidence of the aesthetics, in the ancient period, this research uses the Odyssey epic by Homer. In the medieval period, Gothic and Hindu architecture show how two religious contexts, influenced by different ideologies, created new aesthetic influences. The art of the Tang Dynasty in China and The Tale of Genji in Japan complement the philosophical discussion on how the new aesthetics in the East arose. Hadji Murat, a literary work by Leo Tolstoy, presents new aesthetic heroism contexts. In the modern period, artworks by Edvard Munch and Pablo Picasso represent the individual’s right to free speech and reflect capitalist contexts. Meanwhile, artworks by the Russian Soviet and Chinese artists Kliment Redko and Luo Zhongli represent Marxist aesthetics.