This Key Concepts pivot explores the aesthetic concept of 'imaginative contemplation.' Drawing on key literature to provide a comprehensive and systematic study of the term, the book offers a unique analysis and definition of the connotations of the term, describing its aesthetic mentality and examining the issue of imaginative contemplation versus imagination in artistic creative thinking, especially as regards the characteristics of contingent thinking in aesthetics. It focuses on drawing parallels between imaginative contemplation and aesthetic emotions, aesthetic rationality, and artistic expression as well as aesthetic form. Examining the relationship between imaginative contemplation and the aesthetic configuration, the book provides a valuable introduction to aesthetic theory in Chinese philosophy and art.

Autorentext

Jing Zhang is a Senior Professor at the Communication University of China. He holds a number of academic positions, including President of the China Society for Liao and Jin Literature, Vice President of the China Society for Ancient Literary Theories and the China Wenxin Diaolong Society, Executive Director of the China and Foreign Literary Theory Society, and Director of the China Aesthetics Society. His publications include Extension of Aesthetics; On Art Aesthetics; Imaginative Contemplation: The Elves of Art; Zen and Tang and Song Poetics; History of Liao and Jin Poetry and other monographs, as well as over 400 papers in Literature Review, Philosophical Research, Literary Heritage, Literature and Art Studies, Academic Monthly, Journal of Peking University and other journals.

Liqing Tao is a Professor at College of Staten Island, City University of New York, USA.

Inhalt
Shen Si: An innovation as a significant aesthetic category.- The generative mechanism of artistic stimulation and associations in Shen Si.- Shen Si and imagination in thinking in artistic creation.- Characteristics of fortuitous thinking in Shen Si.- Aesthetics and aesthetic emotions.- Shen Si and artistic medium.