Philosophy Talk: Rasa, Self, and Love in Bhoja

Dominic McIver Lopes will give the third Philosophy talk of the year titled "Rasa, Self, and Love in Bhoja.

Abstract:  Rasa, or aesthetic emotion, is a central concern of South Asian philosophy. Bhoja, writing in the eleventh century, crafted a unique and intriguing theory of rasa as fundamentally the artistic expression of love. Love, for Bhoja, is a capacity for sensitive attention that grounds self-making and self-awareness. The reason we have to engage with works of art is that they equip us to be who we are.

Dominic McIver Lopes is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and University Killam Professor at the University of British Columbia. He has authored books and papers on images and their values, new technologies in the arts, the nature of art, and the nature and significance of aesthetic value. His recent work provides frameworks for modelling the social conditions that underlie aesthetic agency, and his 2024 book, Aesthetic Injustice, connects social injustice to harms to people in their capacities as aesthetic agents.