The Philosophy of Smell with Asifa Majid

What can our sense of smell tell us about perception, thought, and language? Josh and Ray sniff out the details with experimental psychologist and olfaction expert Asifa Majid from the University of Oxford.

When philosophers think about human perception, they tend to focus on vision and turn their noses up at olfaction, the sense of smell. So what insights can we gain about perception, thought, and language by focusing on olfaction? How culturally variable is the ability to distinguish one scent from another? Do we need to learn certain concepts before we can detect certain odors, or can our noses pick up things we can’t yet name? And why do we have so many words to describe what we see, yet so few to describe what we smell?

Join our live audience at the Stanford Humanities Center as Josh and Ray record a brand-new episode with their special guest, experimental psychologist and olfaction expert Asifa Majid from the University of Oxford. In addition to thought provoking conversation and audience questions, the show will feature Roving Philosophical Reporter Holly J. McDede, satirist and Sixty-Second Philosopher Ian Shoales, and a slew of smell sensations.

This event is generously sponsored by the Stanford Symbolic Systems Program.