Olfactory Experience II: Objects and Properties

Abstract

The philosophy of perception has been dominated by vision, with very little discussion of the chemical senses – olfaction and gustation. In this second entry of a pair on olfactory experience, I consider what olfaction has to tell us about two issues: (i) the nature of perceptual objects and (ii) the nature of perceptual properties and, in particular, the secondary qualities. Given the scant work on olfaction in the philosophical literature, my discussion not only surveys what philosophers have said about olfaction so far, but considers the most plausible views and/or most pressing questions in each area of inquiry.