Mutual Exchange of Literary Theories
Zhou Caishu, Dominic Mclver Lopes
2026, 46(2): 116-126.
In this interview, Professor Dominic Lopes provides in-depth philosophical and historical insights on a range of topics, including aesthetics, the philosophy of art, media and digital art, the cross-cultural dialogue between Eastern and Western aesthetics, as well as the relationship between an academic career and social transformation. First, Lopes introduces contemporary Western aesthetics as a discipline. Drawing on his monographs Aesthetic Life and Why It Matters and Beyond Art, he discusses the role of aesthetics in social practice, the buck passing theory, and the new definition of a “work of art”. Second, in response to the development of new media and digital art, Lopes corrects three mistakes in traditional thinking about media, and encourages a broader consideration of categories like general media, the narrative medium, and the imagistic medium. He also explains the similarities and differences between computer art, digital art, AI art, and generative art, and he advocates for the label “computer art,” as argued in his book A Philosophy of Computer Art. Third, the interview discusses “emotion” in European philosophy, “rasa theory” in Indian philosophy, and “emotion ontology” in Chinese philosophy, exploring the possibility and potential for better mutual appreciation between aesthetic scenes in China and the West. Finally, the Chinese “aesthetic fever” and the differences between the Chinese and Western aesthetics scenes in the 1980s are examined. Based on Lopes's academic career, he responds to the role of intellectuals and their social responsibilities.