Taste and Smell in the Eighteenth Century

This special issue focuses on the position of taste and smell in the long eighteenth century, during which both theoretical discourse and daily routine were strongly influenced by sensualist ideas. Although in the prevalent hierarchy of the senses taste and smell were generally regarded as the lower, inferior senses, the eighteenth century marked a growing interest in the many debates on taste and smell, in the aesthetic but also in the scientific domain. The articles presented here address different ways in which smell and taste were represented, discussed, or put to use in a great range of sources that appeared and circulated in the course of the long eighteenth century. This issue engages with a great variety of disciplines (philosophy, (art) history, literary studies, anthropology), bearing witness to the multidisciplinary and international nature of the growing field of sensory studies.nrpages: 168status: publishe