美學中的超越向度：以趙雅博《談美》一書為例

Transcendental Elements Illustrated by Albert Chao's On Beauty

趙雅博教授對台灣的士林哲學美學有著重要的影響。他一生對美學的研究不懈，在晚年時完成了一套上下冊的《談美》一書，可謂是他一生研究美學的集大成著作。在書中，趙雅博教授有感於美學領域對於「形上美」或「超越美」的論述往往不足，因此希望能夠完成「一部溶化融合形上美學和藝術美學為一爐的美學，說得更清楚些就是想完成一部從自然美到藝術美的美學論著。」（《談美》上冊序言）
根據趙雅博教授的考察，美的定義是「美是『有』的完整與價值，由觀賞而獲得喜悅。」（《談美》第四編美之定義的探索）在他的美學中展現出來的超越面向，即是在於肯定我們眼前的具體之美，是不可能達到無限之美的。具體的美可以越來越美、越來越完美，又或者是有各種不同的美，它們表現美的方式可以說是無窮無盡，但「『有』無論其為精神有，物質有或者是理智有，他們之顯示於人的情形，我們無法不說：『它們不是完全，或圓滿無缺的。』」
透過這種有限美與無限美的對照，趙雅博教授把一種超越的面向引入了美學當中。他說：「我們所經歷到的自然或藝術品，越是高越，越能反映出真美的感覺。有意無意之間就會使我們感到絕對者的臨近與不在，美是我們感到絕對美的迫切臨近，因為是我們的無限願望，覺到我們由於世物或藝術的美，渴望無限美，希望獲得它而為我們握住，可是在同時，絕對又是可望而不及，因之，使我鮮明的感到它的不在！」
本文嘗試在趙雅博所論述的美學系統中，清晰勾勒出此一超越面向與其美學理論交織的內涵與意義。最後輔以中西學者的研究並加以對照，凸顯趙雅博教授在台灣士林哲學美學之學術研究方面的獨特貢獻。

Professor Albert Chao is an important influence on scholastic philosophy regarding aesthetics in Taiwan. He has continuously focused on aesthetics as his lifetime research and in his later years completed two serial volumes of books entitled On Beauty. Professor Chao was aware of the inadequacy regarding the discourses of “metaphysical and transcendental beauty.” He therefore wished to create a work “which establishes an aesthetic system combining and integrating both metaphysical and artistic aesthetics, more precisely, an aesthetic system which leads from natural to artistic beauty.” (Preface in On Beauty)
According to Professor Chao, “beauty is the wholeness and values of ‘being,’ which causes pleasure through the appreciation.” (Chapter 4 of On Beauty) He revealed a transcendental dimension by showing us that the concrete beauty we see is unable to achieve infinite beauty. Concrete beauty contains a development process to become more perfect and at the same time it can be displayed in countless ways; however, “beings, as spiritual beings, or material beings, or intellectual beings, can never be complete or perfect in an absolute way while they reveal themselves to us.” (Chapter 4 in On Beauty)
By contrasting finite and infinite beauty, Professor Albert Chao infused transcendental elements into his aesthetic system. He claimed, “The more transcendental the artworks are, the more we experience real beauty. Intentionally or unintentionally, we feel the absolute’s absence yet close by. Beauty makes us sense the absolute beauty being imperiously close by. It is because we are eager to seize the infinite beauty through things of the world, but at the same time the fact that the infinite is never reached makes me realize its absence.”
This paper attempts to illustrate the transcendental elements in Professor Albert Chao’s aesthetics and also the way his faith integrates with his aesthetic theory.