96461 - Aesthetics and Theories of Taste

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is able to carry out critical reflections on the intertwining of cultural, creative, productive and fruitive processes characterising the sphere of taste, both in the specific sense of its relationship with food and in the broader sense of its relationship with aesthetics. In this sense he/she is also able to examine and interpret the structures of aesthetic experience linked to the practices of taste and the constitution of everyday living environments through them. He/she has acquired skills related to the contextualisation and valorisation of taste within the contemporary cultural reality and to the analysis of aesthetically mediated experience, also in the light of the main theoretical orientations on the subject.

Course contents

Brief history of the concept of taste and its relationship with the philosophical discipline of aesthetics. Taste and perception: in particular the senses directly involved in the food context: taste in the strict sense, smell, sight. The functioning of the organs of perception involved in the tasting experience and the neurophysiology of taste. Cultural implications of food. Visual perception and aesthetic aspects. Beauty through the sense of sight and its declinations in the field of food culture.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Rosalia Cavalieri, Gusto. L'intelligenza del palato, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2011.

2. Gordon M. Shepherd, All'origine del gusto. La nuova scienza della neurogastronomia, Codice edizioni, Torino, 2014, rist. 2019.

3. Nicola Perullo, L'altro gusto. Per un'estetica dell'esperienza gustativa, ETS, Pisa 2021.

NB: text under no. 3 (Nicola Perullo, L'altro gusto. Per un'estetica dell'esperienza gustativa) can be replaced by the following book: Nicola Perullo, Epistenologia. Il vino come filosofia, Mimesis, Milano 2021.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class.

Assessment methods

Oral examination

Office hours

See the website of Giuliana Scotto