This chapter reviews and counters the arguments philosophers have used to justify treating the hu... more This chapter reviews and counters the arguments philosophers have used to justify treating the human sense of smell as cognitively null and of little use, especially for aesthetic judgment. The first section, “ The Historical Prejudices Against Smell” traces the negative views on smell and its aesthetic potential from Plato and Aristotle, through Kant and Hegel, to Roger Scruton, Dennis Dutton and others. The second and third sections, “The Case Against Odors” and the “Case Against the Sense of Smell” examine specific arguments against odors and the sense of smell, e.g. that smell is disreputable, deficient, deceptive, and dispensable. The discussion on deception draws on current philosophy of perception. Chapter 1 closes by arguing that analytic arguments of the kind I have used on behalf of the sense of smell need to be corroborated by the best current work on olfaction in the sciences.
Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turn... more Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turns out that many Western writers have in fact been able to articulate smell experiences forcefully and convincingly. The discussion of poetry (Baudelaire and Heaney) focuses on synesthetic metaphors. A careful discussion of Baudelaire’s Correspondences shows his ability to give subtle and complex expression to the qualities of odors. The discussion of novelists considers not only their use of linguistic devices to bring smells to life, but their use of a variety of devices for expressing character and other issues through smells with attention to the work of Joyce, Woolf, and Faulkner. Particular attention is given to the crucial role that smell plays in delineating the character of Leopold Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses.
Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turn... more Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turns out that many Western writers have in fact been able to articulate smell experiences forcefully and convincingly. The discussion of poetry (Baudelaire and Heaney) focuses on synesthetic metaphors. A careful discussion of Baudelaire’s Correspondences shows his ability to give subtle and complex expression to the qualities of odors. The discussion of novelists considers not only their use of linguistic devices to bring smells to life, but their use of a variety of devices for expressing character and other issues through smells with attention to the work of Joyce, Woolf, and Faulkner. Particular attention is given to the crucial role that smell plays in delineating the character of Leopold Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses.
Chapter 5 begins by recalling the central role that incense and perfumes once played in religion,... more Chapter 5 begins by recalling the central role that incense and perfumes once played in religion, medicine, and social relations throughout Western history, from ancient Egypt through the eighteenth century. The second part of the chapter looks at the “dialectic of deodorization” over the past two centuries, involving the narrowing of the uses of incense and the gradual discrediting of the medical uses of both incense and perfume, in part through the great sanitary campaigns to rid cities of the stench of human excrement and various noxious industries, leaving incense to mostly religious and perfumes to mostly aesthetic uses. The chapter concludes that this historical turn may have exacerbated our natural tendency to be unaware of smells and have encouraged intellectuals to view the sense of smell as of little importance, despite evidence of a certain “reodorization” from the mid-twentieth century on.
Many art critics have complained that the most dramatic art museum designs of the last decade hav... more Many art critics have complained that the most dramatic art museum designs of the last decade have upstaged or interfered with the art within. This essay examines eight contemporary cases before drawing some lessons for art museum design, and ends by setting the architecture vs. art problem in the context of the philosophy of architecture, focusing on the issues of function and symbolism.
I begin by examining three concepts of “artification:” the decoration, transformation, and modifi... more I begin by examining three concepts of “artification:” the decoration, transformation, and modification. I argue that the typical business argument for artification claims that since businesses must be constantly innovating and since art and artists are the principal locus of creativity in our society, businesses must be “artified.” I argue that these claims about artists and creativity are based on widely accepted conventional views about art and artists that are false. I illustrate my general argument by examining one of the best statements of the case for business artification, Austin’s and Devin’s book, Artful Making, showing that artful making is closer to the idea of craftsmanship than to the modern, post-romantic image of “the artist,” that seems to enthrall so many people. I conclude that when it comes to finding models and metaphors for innovation, businesses and other organizations could better draw on such fields as science, engineering, design, or craft than on the world...
Chapter 14 argues that the ethos of the modern city in the developed world is marked by a conflic... more Chapter 14 argues that the ethos of the modern city in the developed world is marked by a conflict between an established tendency toward “deodorizing” and a minority of scent advocates who seek greater olfactory diversity. The chapter begins by discussing smellwalking, smell mapping, and related artworks, then moves on to the place of odors in urban design, noting that most city officials think of odors only as something to be controlled or eliminated. After a discussion of the role of smell in architecture, the chapter closes by considering the ethical issues surrounding ambient scenting in both the workplace and the marketplace, as well as the clash between claims made for aromatherapy and the demand for fragrance bans made by sufferers from multiple chemical sensitivity.
... Art in the way a marble carving made in a contemporary Milan workshop and passed off as an Et... more ... Art in the way a marble carving made in a contemporary Milan workshop and passed off as an Etruscan tomb sculpture is a "fake" piece of Etruscan Art. ... Tourist art contains a special form of expressive symbolism. It is at once a statement about the iden-...
... ecstasy in the midst of nega-tivity and profanity a clue for develop-ing the concept of an ..... more ... ecstasy in the midst of nega-tivity and profanity a clue for develop-ing the concept of an ... less" today, what we need is to reunite the "interior and exterior, to restore man to his ... estimate of secularization starting from a phenomenology of the sacred is found in the theology of Paul ...
... The essay by Aaron Kozbelt, Ronald A. Beghetto, and Mark A. Runco on “Theories of Creativity,... more ... The essay by Aaron Kozbelt, Ronald A. Beghetto, and Mark A. Runco on “Theories of Creativity,” for example, identifies ten major types of theories on the nature of creativity, some emphasizing the study of personality traits, others the ... [35] For a summary see Robert J. Sternberg ...
... LE Shiner, associate professor of philosophy at Sangamon State University, received his docto... more ... LE Shiner, associate professor of philosophy at Sangamon State University, received his doctorate from the Universitt! de Strasbourg. ... As participants in history all our actions are hung under a question mark. 2 . The Historian ...
This chapter reviews and counters the arguments philosophers have used to justify treating the hu... more This chapter reviews and counters the arguments philosophers have used to justify treating the human sense of smell as cognitively null and of little use, especially for aesthetic judgment. The first section, “ The Historical Prejudices Against Smell” traces the negative views on smell and its aesthetic potential from Plato and Aristotle, through Kant and Hegel, to Roger Scruton, Dennis Dutton and others. The second and third sections, “The Case Against Odors” and the “Case Against the Sense of Smell” examine specific arguments against odors and the sense of smell, e.g. that smell is disreputable, deficient, deceptive, and dispensable. The discussion on deception draws on current philosophy of perception. Chapter 1 closes by arguing that analytic arguments of the kind I have used on behalf of the sense of smell need to be corroborated by the best current work on olfaction in the sciences.
Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turn... more Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turns out that many Western writers have in fact been able to articulate smell experiences forcefully and convincingly. The discussion of poetry (Baudelaire and Heaney) focuses on synesthetic metaphors. A careful discussion of Baudelaire’s Correspondences shows his ability to give subtle and complex expression to the qualities of odors. The discussion of novelists considers not only their use of linguistic devices to bring smells to life, but their use of a variety of devices for expressing character and other issues through smells with attention to the work of Joyce, Woolf, and Faulkner. Particular attention is given to the crucial role that smell plays in delineating the character of Leopold Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses.
Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turn... more Chapter 7, “Writing Smell,” suggests that if we look at poetry and the novel in the West, it turns out that many Western writers have in fact been able to articulate smell experiences forcefully and convincingly. The discussion of poetry (Baudelaire and Heaney) focuses on synesthetic metaphors. A careful discussion of Baudelaire’s Correspondences shows his ability to give subtle and complex expression to the qualities of odors. The discussion of novelists considers not only their use of linguistic devices to bring smells to life, but their use of a variety of devices for expressing character and other issues through smells with attention to the work of Joyce, Woolf, and Faulkner. Particular attention is given to the crucial role that smell plays in delineating the character of Leopold Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses.
Chapter 5 begins by recalling the central role that incense and perfumes once played in religion,... more Chapter 5 begins by recalling the central role that incense and perfumes once played in religion, medicine, and social relations throughout Western history, from ancient Egypt through the eighteenth century. The second part of the chapter looks at the “dialectic of deodorization” over the past two centuries, involving the narrowing of the uses of incense and the gradual discrediting of the medical uses of both incense and perfume, in part through the great sanitary campaigns to rid cities of the stench of human excrement and various noxious industries, leaving incense to mostly religious and perfumes to mostly aesthetic uses. The chapter concludes that this historical turn may have exacerbated our natural tendency to be unaware of smells and have encouraged intellectuals to view the sense of smell as of little importance, despite evidence of a certain “reodorization” from the mid-twentieth century on.
Many art critics have complained that the most dramatic art museum designs of the last decade hav... more Many art critics have complained that the most dramatic art museum designs of the last decade have upstaged or interfered with the art within. This essay examines eight contemporary cases before drawing some lessons for art museum design, and ends by setting the architecture vs. art problem in the context of the philosophy of architecture, focusing on the issues of function and symbolism.
I begin by examining three concepts of “artification:” the decoration, transformation, and modifi... more I begin by examining three concepts of “artification:” the decoration, transformation, and modification. I argue that the typical business argument for artification claims that since businesses must be constantly innovating and since art and artists are the principal locus of creativity in our society, businesses must be “artified.” I argue that these claims about artists and creativity are based on widely accepted conventional views about art and artists that are false. I illustrate my general argument by examining one of the best statements of the case for business artification, Austin’s and Devin’s book, Artful Making, showing that artful making is closer to the idea of craftsmanship than to the modern, post-romantic image of “the artist,” that seems to enthrall so many people. I conclude that when it comes to finding models and metaphors for innovation, businesses and other organizations could better draw on such fields as science, engineering, design, or craft than on the world...
Chapter 14 argues that the ethos of the modern city in the developed world is marked by a conflic... more Chapter 14 argues that the ethos of the modern city in the developed world is marked by a conflict between an established tendency toward “deodorizing” and a minority of scent advocates who seek greater olfactory diversity. The chapter begins by discussing smellwalking, smell mapping, and related artworks, then moves on to the place of odors in urban design, noting that most city officials think of odors only as something to be controlled or eliminated. After a discussion of the role of smell in architecture, the chapter closes by considering the ethical issues surrounding ambient scenting in both the workplace and the marketplace, as well as the clash between claims made for aromatherapy and the demand for fragrance bans made by sufferers from multiple chemical sensitivity.
... Art in the way a marble carving made in a contemporary Milan workshop and passed off as an Et... more ... Art in the way a marble carving made in a contemporary Milan workshop and passed off as an Etruscan tomb sculpture is a "fake" piece of Etruscan Art. ... Tourist art contains a special form of expressive symbolism. It is at once a statement about the iden-...
... ecstasy in the midst of nega-tivity and profanity a clue for develop-ing the concept of an ..... more ... ecstasy in the midst of nega-tivity and profanity a clue for develop-ing the concept of an ... less" today, what we need is to reunite the "interior and exterior, to restore man to his ... estimate of secularization starting from a phenomenology of the sacred is found in the theology of Paul ...
... The essay by Aaron Kozbelt, Ronald A. Beghetto, and Mark A. Runco on “Theories of Creativity,... more ... The essay by Aaron Kozbelt, Ronald A. Beghetto, and Mark A. Runco on “Theories of Creativity,” for example, identifies ten major types of theories on the nature of creativity, some emphasizing the study of personality traits, others the ... [35] For a summary see Robert J. Sternberg ...
... LE Shiner, associate professor of philosophy at Sangamon State University, received his docto... more ... LE Shiner, associate professor of philosophy at Sangamon State University, received his doctorate from the Universitt! de Strasbourg. ... As participants in history all our actions are hung under a question mark. 2 . The Historian ...
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