Natural Aesthetics

Preface: Natural Aesthetics – From Cosmic Order to Future Civilization Since ancient times, humanity has continually questioned the essence of beauty: What is beauty? Does it exist in nature itself, or is it merely a product of human experience? Eastern and Western philosophical traditions provide different answers. In ancient Greece, Plato proposed the concept of ideal beauty; Aristotle emphasized proportion and order; Kant pursued the disinterested aesthetic judgment; Hegel regarded art as the manifestation of Absolute Spirit; and modern aesthetics has increasingly focused on form, expression, and subjective experience. Chinese philosophical wisdom, represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi, advocates the principles of Dao follows nature, freedom, and the unity of heaven and humanity, emphasizing holistic, non-objectified, and life-integrated aesthetic perspectives. Li Zehou’s modern aesthetic system, based on practical ontology, sedimentation theory, and the primacy of emotion, achieved a systematic framework for Chinese aesthetics, yet it remains confined to anthropocentrism, lacking awareness of cosmic generation and the order of life systems. Natural Aesthetics is founded on the philosophical thought of Laozi and the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology, proposing a system of aesthetics that liberates aesthetic experience from anthropocentrism and embeds beauty within the chain of cosmic generation, life systems, and civilizational order. Combining rigorous scientific philosophical reasoning with profound philosophical insight, this work addresses three core questions: 1. What is the essence of beauty? 2. How is aesthetic experience connected to cosmic order and life systems? 3. How can natural aesthetics guide the transformation of future civilization and philosophical paradigms? The book is divided into four parts: Part I: The History and Structure of World Aesthetics This part traces the development of aesthetic traditions in both the East and West, as well as indigenous Chinese wisdom, analyzing the strengths and limitations of each system. Western aesthetics emphasizes rationality, form, and subjective experience, while Chinese aesthetics emphasizes Dao follows nature and holistic wisdom, yet lacks scientific formalization and systematic models. Li Zehou’s system achieves a structured approach to modern Chinese aesthetics, but remains centered on human experience. Part I establishes the historical and theoretical foundation for natural aesthetics, arguing that aesthetics must transcend cultural and subjective experience, returning to cosmic order and life systems. Part II: Critique of Anthropocentric Aesthetics This part systematically critiques human-centered aesthetics along four dimensions: ontology, genesis, dynamics, and the essence of aesthetic experience. Practical ontology and cultural sedimentation models cannot explain the universality of beauty at cosmic scales and within life systems; historical explanatory models overlook natural mechanisms such as energy flow, entropy increase, and self-organization; subjectivism and cultural determinism obscure the objective structure of beauty. The central conclusion is that aesthetics must shift from “human” to “Dao,” returning to cosmic generation and natural order, thereby providing a philosophical and scientific foundation for natural aesthetics. Part III: The Philosophical Construction of Natural Aesthetics This part establishes the theoretical system of natural aesthetics, reconstructing the essence of beauty and the mechanisms of aesthetic experience, unifying scientific philosophy with Laozi’s wisdom. Beauty is defined as: the manifestation of cosmic order and structure