Schiller compared the ancient Greek society with the modern European society in Education Letters, and thought that in ancient Greek society, human nature was complete and harmonious, personality was perfect, and individuals and society were also very harmonious. Schiller believes that the modern industrial society has caused contradictions and the division of human nature. The strict division of labor and professional differences in modern society have not only caused serious division between society and individuals, but also caused division of human nature of individuals themselves. Modern people are divided in matter and spirit, reality and ideal, objectivity and subjectivity, and are no longer in a perfect and harmonious state like the ancient Greeks. Therefore, Schiller strongly advocated aesthetic education to overcome this division of human nature. Schiller believes that there are two opposite requirements in people, which can be called "impulse": one is "perceptual impulse" dominated by perceptual needs, and the other is "rational impulse" idle by objective laws. These two impulses are human nature, and perfect human nature should be the harmonious unity of the two. Only in the modern industrial society, human nature has been divided. Therefore, Schiller pointed out that there needs to be a third kind of impulse, that is, "game impulse", as a bridge to organically unify the two. Because "game impulse" is a kind of free and conscious activity of human beings, it can not only overcome "perceptual impulse", but also restrict human beings from the aspect of natural inevitability; We can also overcome the "rational impulse" and restrict people from the aspect of moral necessity; Make people have truly perfect humanity. Of course, Schiller's "game" here does not refer to the game in real life, but refers to a kind of free and conscious activity opposite to coercion, which is an aesthetic game or an artistic game. Schiller strongly advocates cultivating ideal people, perfect people and people with all-round and harmonious development through aesthetic education. It should be admitted that from the perspective of the development history of aesthetic education theory, Schiller's understanding of aesthetic education really broke through the narrow view of ancient Greece that aesthetic education was only a special way or supplementary means of moral education, and raised aesthetic education to the height of cultivating all-round development people, which had a great influence on aesthetic education theories in various countries in the world.
Mr. Cai Yuanpei (1868— 1940) is a famous democratic revolutionary and educator in modern China. He was once the chief education officer of the Republic of China, president of Peking University, and president of the Academia Sinica. Cai Yuanpei has made great contributions to China's modern education, and can be called "an academic master and a world model". He once put forward the famous educational policy of "five educations at the same time", namely: military education, utilitarian education, civic moral education, world outlook education and aesthetic education. Among them, aesthetic education is Mr. Cai Yuanpei's very distinctive educational thought, especially famous for the slogan of "replacing religion with aesthetic education" Cai Yuanpei's thought of "replacing religion with aesthetic education" is embodied in his articles such as Lai, On Educational Policy, On Educational Independence, On Replacing Religion with Aesthetic Education, and On Replacing Religion with Aesthetic Education, especially his speech at Beijing Shenzhou Society on 19 17, which was later published in New Youth. Although Cai Yuanpei did not write a monograph on this subject, the idea of "replacing religion with aesthetic education" ran through Mr. Cai Yuanpei's life. As early as the New Culture Movement, he put forward "replacing religion with aesthetic education" more than once, emphasizing that aesthetic education is an important world outlook education. 1938 On February 8, two years before Cai Yuanpei's death, when Xiao Yuqing prefaced the book On Gathering Friends, he also mentioned: "The idea of' replacing religion with aesthetic education' was published 20 years ago. I originally wanted to write a book ... but unfortunately, it was not written for 20 years due to personnel constraints." Cai Yuanpei compares religion with aesthetic education and thinks that religion has obvious limitations: "First, aesthetic education is free, while religion is compulsory; Second, aesthetic education is progressive and religion is conservative; Third, aesthetic education is universal, while religion has boundaries. " Therefore, Cai Yuanpei advocates "replacing religion with aesthetic education" and "recognizing the disadvantages of stabbing feelings, and specializing in cultivating feelings, it is easy to replace religion with simple aesthetic education." In Cai Yuanpei's view, replacing religion with aesthetic education can protect China people's feelings from pollution and stimulation, purify them under the influence of art, and meet the inherent needs of human development. "Replacing religion with aesthetic education" is a major trend of thought in the development of modern aesthetics in China. As early as Mr. Wang Guowei's article "Detoxification", he said: "Artists are also religions of the upper class." The debate about "replacing religion with aesthetic education" objectively stimulated people's understanding of the essential attributes of aesthetics and religion at that time, which is of historical significance and worthy of our future generations' in-depth thinking.