Anish Mishra

Based on the premise that an aesthetic experience is inevitably a human one, this paper considers a non-anthropocentric ecological aesthetic experience through the lens of Indian aesthetics. It does so by problematizing the beautiful in the aesthetic. Rasa in Indian aesthetics refers to the essence of emotion felt in an aesthetic experience. The adbhuta rasa refers to the experience of wonder through astonishment. I argue that what we might find amazing in nature is not only the picturesque, but rather the ecological interconnectedness of nature. Through Indian aesthetics, we recognize in this paper, the criterion for a sensitive, receptive and responsive subject presenting themselves to an engulfment, as important for a non-othered ecological aesthetic experience. It is recognized that there might be an aesthetic allowance in ecological design, realized by placing importance on a sensory immersion in the natural world that allows an engulfment in it. While not neglecting a cognitive reflexive analysis of such a relishing of the adbhuta, we conceive of an experience that finds aesthetic value and appreciation beyond the instrumental and commodified value placed on natural environments. The paper concludes with key questions that a rasa anubhuti raises for emerging eco-aesthetic theories and a summary of the unique hermeneutical and epistemological contributions this approach could make to the field.

In a time when the signs of a looming climate crisis have become increasingly evident, Eric Nelson’s work is a timely and relevant book. While dealing with theoretical questions, the book is also grounded in the empirical happenings of a global world order intertwined with human-induced climate change. Yet what is perhaps more significant is that it examines the way humans perceive nature, not as an atomic individualized activity but rather as envisioned and enacted through relations with the environment. In his Introduction, Nelson contextualizes the theoretical basis of the book. He rejects the bifurcations oppose the contemplative to the purposive and the philosophical to the religious nature of Daoism...