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Abstract
The Aesthetics of Food sets out the continuing philosophical debate about the aesthetic nature of food. The debate begins with Plato’s claim that only objects of sight and hearing could be beautiful; consequently, food as something we smell and taste could not be beautiful. Plato’s sceptical position has been both supported and opposed in one form or another throughout the ages. This book demonstrates how the current debate has evolved and critically assesses that debate, showing how it has been influenced by the changing nature of critical theory and changes in art historical paradigms (Expressionism, Modernism, and Post-modernism), as well as by recent advances in neuroscience. It also traces changes in our understanding of the sensory experience of food and drink, from viewing taste as a simple single sense to current views on its complex multi-sensory nature. Particular attention is paid to recent philosophical discussion about wine: whether an interest in a wine reflects only a subjective or personal preference or whether one can make objective judgments about the quality and merit of a wine. Finally, the book explores how the debate has been informed by changes in the cooking, presenting, and consuming of food, for example by the appearance of the restaurant in the early nineteenth century as well as the rise of celebrity chefs.
Professor Sweeney’s book comprises an engaging march through the history of philosophy, showing how many eminent thinkers have reflected on the beauty of food. The historical analysis is bolstered by contemporary examples—including Ferran Adrià’s molecular gastronomy—and the writing is both lucid and accessible to non-specialists. This book is an exceptional accomplishment and highly recommended.
Fritz H. Allhoff, Professor of Philosophy, Western Michigan University
After a deeply insightful assessment of philosophical ideas on the aesthetic of food from Plato and Aristotle to Beardsley and Dewey (including a fascinating comparison of Kant and Brillat-Savarin), Sweeney brilliantly reframes the “is fine cuisine fine art?” debate by reflecting on 21st century revolutionary cuisine (Adrià, Achatz, Blumenthal, etc.) in the light of trends in contemporary art and aesthetics since Post-Modernism. Along the way he develops conceptual distinctions that advance the discussion of the aesthetics of food within philosophy, yet he does all this in an engaging style that should be accessible to both undergraduates and general readers.
Larry E. Shiner, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, History, Visual Arts, Villanova University
Kevin W. Sweeney is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tampa.
In this welcome addition to the growing philosophical scholarship on food and drink, Kevin Sweeney situates the subject historically and within a context of art theory that is often overlooked. His careful analysis of the aesthetic standing of taste and the artistic claims for cuisine displays a sophisticated acquaintance with gastronomic culture as well as analytical acumen. The book will be read with interest by student and scholar alike.
Carolyn Korsmeyer, Professor of Philosophy, University of Buffalo
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Cover | Cover 1 | ||
Half Title | i | ||
Title Page | iii | ||
Copyright Page | iv | ||
Table of contents | v | ||
Chapter One The Aesthetics of Food: Cuisine and Taste | 1 | ||
Ferran Adrià and Contemporary Cuisine | 4 | ||
Theories of Taste | 9 | ||
Taste in Asia | 12 | ||
Notes | 15 | ||
Chapter Two Taste in Antiquity: Plato’s Rejection of Food | 19 | ||
From Wild Man to Civilized Being: The Epic of Gilgamesh | 20 | ||
Food and the Evolution of Homo Sapiens | 22 | ||
Plato’s Rejection of the Pleasures of Food | 24 | ||
Plato’s Denial That Cuisine Has an Art or Craft | 26 | ||
Heldke’s Critique of Plato’s Rejection of Cuisine in Gorgias | 26 | ||
Plato’s Account of Taste | 28 | ||
Plato’s Theory of Taste and the Greeks’ Love of Food | 31 | ||
Summary | 34 | ||
Notes | 35 | ||
Chapter Three Aristotelian and Roman Views on Taste | 39 | ||
Aristotle on Gluttony | 40 | ||
Aristotle’s Theory of Taste | 42 | ||
Taste and Touch | 44 | ||
Freeland’s Critique of Aristotle’s Theory of Touch | 46 | ||
Aristotle’s Common Sense | 47 | ||
Can Food Be Beautiful? | 48 | ||
Summary of Aristotle’s Theory of Taste | 51 | ||
Gustatory Experience in the Roman Empire | 53 | ||
Christianity Struggles with Food and Wine | 60 | ||
Notes | 64 | ||
Chapter Four Medieval and Renaissance Views on Food | 71 | ||
Food in the Monastic Refectory and the Feudal Hall | 72 | ||
Renaissance Gastronomy in Italy | 74 | ||
Seventeenth-Century French Cuisine | 78 | ||
Service à la française | 80 | ||
The Distillation of Alcohol | 82 | ||
Descartes, Alcohol, and Animal Spirits | 83 | ||
Notes | 85 | ||
Chapter Five Critical Taste in the Enlightenment | 89 | ||
Addison on Fine Taste | 90 | ||
Shaftesbury and Hutcheson | 93 | ||
Du Bos and Voltaire | 98 | ||
Hume’s Theory of Taste and Gustatory Experience | 100 | ||
Delicacy of Taste and the “Finer Emotions” | 106 | ||
Reid on Taste | 108 | ||
Conclusion | 110 | ||
Notes | 111 | ||
Chapter Six Kant and Brillat-Savarin on Taste | 117 | ||
Kant on Taste | 117 | ||
Taste of Sense and Taste of Reflection | 119 | ||
Disinterestedness and Having a Gustatory Appetite | 121 | ||
Kant on Common Sense | 125 | ||
Gastronomy and Brillat-Savarin | 126 | ||
Brillat-Savarin and Gourmandism | 130 | ||
Brillat-Savarin’s Physiology of Taste | 131 | ||
Taste and the Gastronomic Revolution | 133 | ||
Carême and the Celebrity Chef | 135 | ||
Expressionism and Food | 136 | ||
Lewis Carroll on Food | 137 | ||
Notes | 139 | ||
Chapter Seven Creating and Tasting: Can Fine Food Be Fine Art? | 145 | ||
Clement Greenberg’s Modernism | 146 | ||
Clive Bell and “Significant Form” | 147 | ||
Prall and Beardsley on Whether Tastes and Smells Can Have Structures | 148 | ||
Dewey on Having an Experience with Food | 150 | ||
Modernism and Cuisine | 152 | ||
Telfer and Korsmeyer on the Pleasures of Taste | 154 | ||
The Art World and Cuisine | 157 | ||
Kuehn and Monroe: Can Cuisine Be Fine Art? | 158 | ||
Postmodernism and the Multisensitivity of Taste | 159 | ||
Notes | 163 | ||
Chapter Eight Tasting Wine | 167 | ||
Scruton on Taste and Smell | 168 | ||
Hume’s Wine-Tasting Example Reconsidered | 171 | ||
Analytic Realism | 172 | ||
Analytic Interpretivism | 175 | ||
The Synthetic Character of Wine Tasting | 178 | ||
Notes | 180 | ||
Chapter Nine The Philosophical Debate about the Aesthetics of Food | 183 | ||
Bibliography | 189 | ||
Index | 199 |