Ecological Aesthetics and the Ecological Vector of Modernization in the Far East and the Western World

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the formation of ecological consciousness in Western and Far Eastern cultures (China, Japan, Korea) through the prism of ecological aesthetics. The author examines aesthetics not as a realm of pure contemplation, but as a discursive bridge mediating the transition from abstract philosophical concepts to concrete social and everyday practices of interacting with nature. Methodologically, the research draws on Clifford Geertz's approach to the analysis of cultural schemas, which allows for the identification of cognitive structures linking the ideal and the everyday, as well as on the study of cultural infrastructure (institutions, technologies, legal norms) that shapes the field of ecological action. The work demonstrates that the Western tradition, grounded in a subject-object paradigm and individual responsibility, historically generates powerful grassroots environmental movements. However, in shaping ecological consciousness, it faces challenges of excessive alarmism, manipulation, and populism. The Eastern tradition, rooted in philosophies of harmony (Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism), implicitly presupposes a centralized, state-led model of regulation. In practice, this results in the high efficiency of top-down environmental initiatives, while archaic patterns of everyday consumption persist. Particular attention is paid to the cultural dissonance in contemporary China, where accelerated modernization along Western lines comes into conflict with both traditional ideals and current Western green standards. The author concludes that ecological aesthetics today is becoming the very field where the tension between the global environmental imperative and local cultural specificity is resolved, fostering new, hybrid forms of ecological consciousness.