在西方美學史上,二元論(dualism)曾經長期占據上風。自誕生之日起,它就建立起等級制的人學圖式:心被想象為一種主體性角色,身則被當作需要驅動、充實、引導的被動之物。從邏輯上講,這種圖式蘊含著一個悖論:倘若身心根本不同,它們就無法相互作用,當然也不可能聯合為人;要是它們本性相同,將它們劃分為兩元同樣悖理。在破解這個悖論的過程中,身體的意義獲得了吊詭性的揭示。尤其是到了近代以后,自然科學持續揭示了精神活動對身體的歸屬關系,提供了解構二元論的證據。隨著二元論的衰微,現當代理論中的身體開始展示其主體形貌,美學建構出現了層層遞進的身體復興:在18世紀中葉,作為"身體的話語"的感性學誕生了;到了19世紀末,尼采標畫出身體美學的原初形貌;進入20世紀以后,在現象學、實用主義、認知科學的合力推動下,身體美學最終升格為一個學科。可以預見,這個進程還將持續下去,屬于身體美學的時代還剛剛開始。

Dualism has long been dominant in the history of Western aesthetics, and it has established a hierarchical schema from the day it was born. The mind is imagined as a subjective role, while the body is regarded as a passive object that needs to be driven, enriched and guided. From the point of logic, a paradox is inherent to the schema: if the body and the mind are essentially different, they cannot interact with each other; if their nature is the same in essence, it is equally illogical to distinguish them. In the process of solving this paradox, the significance of the body exposes itself, especially in the modern and post-modern times when natural science continues to reveal the attribution of mental activities to the body, providing evidence for the deconstruction of dualism. Along with the decline of dualism, the body in the modern and contemporary theories gradually assumes the subjectivity of its own, and a revival of the body develops in the new construction of aesthetics. The mid-18 th century sees the aesthetics in the form of body discourse, the end of the 19 th century sees Nietzsche outlining the prototype of soma-aesthetics, and the 20 th century, driven by the combined efforts of phenomenology, pragmatism and cognitive science, sees soma-esthetics upgrading to a discipline. It can be predicted that this process will continue and the era of soma-esthetics has just begun.