关键词: 《论批评》; 法自然; 《文心雕龙》; 原道; 生态伦理

Abstract: Nature, both in Chinese and foreign literary theory and criticism, has always been an important category. The recent hot topic “ecological ethics” ponders the moral relationship between man and nature. Academia at home and abroad, though analysing Alexander Pope’s proposition of “follow NATURE” in his masterpiece An Essay on Criticism, seldom makes a further differentiation of the relationship between nature and human’s moral values. Neither does it put forward and research on the aesthetic connection between human spirit, human expression and nature. This article plans to stand in the position of a Chinese scholar and makes a comparative study between Pope’s claim of “follow NATURE” and Chinese critic Liu Xie’s literary principle of “Original Tao” from the perspective of ecological ethics. It is found that both of the two masters embody the basic spirit of advocating nature, following the natural rules and trying to put forward artistic creation principles and ways of aesthetic production based on the essence of nature and the ethical, moral relationship between man and nature. It is illustrated that though the two writers lived in different ages, countries and societies with different cultural backgrounds, their literary concepts and aesthetic principles share in resemblance. They both, through their respective masterpieces, pursue a mental state of harmonious unity between nature and human beings, whose views still nourish and give us enlightenment.

Keywords: An Essay on Criticism; follow Nature; Wenxindiaolong; Original Tao; ecological ethics