Barry Smith

School of Advanced Study, University of London, Institute of Philosophy, Faculty Member

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Running the Institute of Philosophy, in the School of Advanced Study in University of London. The Institute exists to promote research in philosophy nationally and international. We run research projects, host post-doctoral researchers and visiting fellows and organise many conferences and workshops.

The Institute houses the interdisciplinary Centre for the the Study of the Sense: http://thecenses.org/
as well as the Centre for Logic and Language, and the Centre for Computing in Philosophy. It is the home of PhilPapers, run by Dr David Bourget, and provides support for Philosophy Bites run by Nigel Warbuton and David Edmonds.

The Institute has several partnerships with UK, European and US universities and participates in several research networks. See the website for details: www.philosophy.sas.ac.uk

We have has several successful collaborations with philosophy departments in the UK and the rest of the world and we welcome such opportunities.

My own philosophical interests are in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language and cognitive science. I work on knowledge of language, self-knowledge, predicates of taste, flavour perception and neuroscience. I also write about the philosophy of wine.

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Papers by Barry Smith

Externalism and Authoritative Self‐Knowledge

Knowing Our Own Minds, 2000

This paper defends a qualified observational model of authoritative self‐knowledge, which centres... more This paper defends a qualified observational model of authoritative self‐knowledge, which centres on two features of ordinarily observable characteristics that help explain a subject's direct awareness of them. The first is that they are basic, in that one does not have to know of any underlying fact in virtue of which they apply when they do; and the second is that it is generally necessary and sufficient for the application of such a characteristic that it seems to a normal observer, in normal circumstances, that it does apply. The view is defended against two well‐known misgivings about modelling such knowledge on observation: first, that there is a telling structural disanalogy, since observation normally involves three components, namely, the item perceived, an intermediary, non‐conceptual sensation state, and a judgement grounded in that sensation state, whereas self‐knowledge of an intentional state apparently involves analogues of the first and third components only, nam...

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The Effects of Olfactory Loss and Parosmia on Food and Cooking Habits, Sensory Awareness, and Quality of Life—A Possible Avenue for Regaining Enjoyment of Food

Foods

Olfactory dysfunction often has severe consequences on patients’ quality of life. The most common... more Olfactory dysfunction often has severe consequences on patients’ quality of life. The most common complaint in these patients is their reduced enjoyment of food in both patients with olfactory loss and parosmia. How the different types of olfactory dysfunction differ in relation to food and cooking habits, sensory awareness, and food-related quality of life has not yet received much attention. By applying questionnaires on cooking, food, olfactory function, weight changes, sensory awareness, and food-related quality of life, we investigated how various aspects of eating differ between participants with olfactory loss (n = 271), parosmia (n = 251), and normosmic controls (n = 166). Cooking habits in olfactory dysfunction revealed pronounced differences as compared with normosmic controls. Cooking with olfactory dysfunction was associated with, e.g., a lack of comfort and inspiration for cooking and an inability to make new foods successfully. Significant differences in cooking were a...

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Barry C. Smith, Why We Still Need Knowledge of Language

Patients’ Perspectives on Qualitative Olfactory Dysfunction: Thematic Analysis of Social Media Posts

JMIR Formative Research, 2021

Background The impact of qualitative olfactory disorders is underestimated. Parosmia, the distort... more Background The impact of qualitative olfactory disorders is underestimated. Parosmia, the distorted perception of familiar odors, and phantosmia, the experience of odors in the absence of a stimulus, can arise following postinfectious anosmia, and the incidences of both have increased substantially since the outbreak of COVID-19. Objective The aims of this study are to explore the symptoms and sequalae of postinfectious olfactory dysfunction syndrome using unstructured and unsolicited threads from social media, and to articulate the perspectives and concerns of patients affected by these debilitating olfactory disorders. Methods A thematic analysis and content analysis of posts in the AbScent Parosmia and Phantosmia Support group on Facebook was conducted between June and December 2020. Results In this paper, we identify a novel symptom, olfactory perseveration, which is a triggered, identifiable, and usually unpleasant olfactory percept that persists in the absence of an ongoing st...

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Recent Smell Loss Is the Best Predictor of COVID-19 Among Individuals With Recent Respiratory Symptoms

Chemical Senses, 2020

In a preregistered, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable p... more In a preregistered, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19 using a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory illness. We quantified changes in chemosensory abilities during the course of the respiratory illness using 0–100 visual analog scales (VAS) for participants reporting a positive (C19+; n = 4148) or negative (C19−; n = 546) COVID-19 laboratory test outcome. Logistic regression models identified univariate and multivariate predictors of COVID-19 status and post-COVID-19 olfactory recovery. Both C19+ and C19− groups exhibited smell loss, but it was significantly larger in C19+ participants (mean ± SD, C19+: −82.5 ± 27.2 points; C19−: −59.8 ± 37.7). Smell loss during illness was the best predictor of COVID-19 in both univariate and multivariate models (ROC AUC = 0.72). Additional variables provide negligible model improvement. VAS ratings of smell loss ...

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Tasting Flavors

The Epistemology of Non-Visual Perception

Perceptual experience enables us to know features of objects in our environment. But what does th... more Perceptual experience enables us to know features of objects in our environment. But what does the experience of tasting enable us to know? By tasting we discover the tastes of foods or liquids; but what are tastes? An objectivist sees tastes as properties of foods and drinks, which are there anyway, independent of how we experience them. On this view, tasting provides us with perceptual knowledge of real features of foods and liquids. By contrast, a subjectivist sees tastes as just features of our own experience: sensations on the tongue answerable to nothing other than themselves. Tastes, on this view, are not in the foods; rather foods give rise to tastes in us. A metaphysics of tastes that sees them not as properties of foods but as parts of our experience makes the epistemology of tasting an aspect of self-knowledge. Knowing how something tastes is being immediately aware of a certain sort of experience that occurs when we are eating or drinking. On this view, we can know all a...

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language

Journal of Pragmatics, 2007

This is not just a voluminous tome but a splendid reference book which will help students and pro... more This is not just a voluminous tome but a splendid reference book which will help students and professional scholars alike find their way into philosophy of language, by choosing between alternative theories. Those who recall Strawson's reference to the Homeric battles between formal semanticists and proponents of less formal, communication-oriented paradigms will find it somehow surprising that both paradigms are represented in this book-surely an indication that the editors (who are closer to the formal paradigm) are pretty open-minded people. I heavily applaud this book and recognize that it has many merits, among which that of addressing the semantics/pragmatics debate in a number of articles. Surely compiling such a book must have involved enormous sacrifice and the editors must have been aware that, perhaps because of this book, philosophy of language will be on a better footing from now onwards. Nevertheless, I also want to make many critical remarks, hoping that they will contribute directly or indirectly to the debates in question. The book somehow challenges Partee's remark (personal communication to the editors) that no interesting work can be done in semantics without knowledge of syntax. I think Lepore and Smith show that there is much left for philosophy of language, such as, for example, the connection between philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. I personally find that while the articles in the handbook demonstrate that philosophy of language of a more classical type can still be done, students would have benefited from articles in which philosophy and syntax mix to give interesting accounts of certain philosophical notions. We are happy to read that, according to the editors, ''the philosophy of language now focuses on its primary concern: the nature of natural language and the extraordinary capacity of human beings to express and communicate their thoughts about the world and other subject-matters'' (p. viii). At least the authors from the outset refuse to embrace the point of view that language is solely an instrument of thought and accept that language is also an instrument of communication. They continue by saying that ''Philosophy of language continues to take seriously the special place language plays in our lives as an object and source of knowledge, as an interface between minds, and as an anchor between experience and reality'' (p. ix). Well I have no quarrel with this, except that it does not allow (at least by direct logical/semantic implication) that language serves to shape human personality and that education intended as a global speech act turns out to have strong effects on the way a person turns out to be. Does personality develop out of human linguistic interaction? And what are the effects of education and linguistic interaction on personality? Is the person a fixed entity or some kind of variable entity, a social, interactional construction? Can philosophers

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Emerging Pattern of Post-COVID-19 Parosmia and Its Effect on Food Perception

Foods, 2022

Olfactory dysfunction is amongst the many symptoms of Long COVID. Whilst most people that experie... more Olfactory dysfunction is amongst the many symptoms of Long COVID. Whilst most people that experience smell loss post COVID-19 recover their sense of smell and taste within a few weeks, about 10% of cases experience long-term problems, and their smell recovery journey often begins a few months later when everyday items start to smell distorted. This is known as parosmia. The aim of this study was to identify the key food triggers of parosmic distortions and investigate the relationship between distortion and disgust in order to establish the impact of parosmia on diet and quality of life. In this cross-sectional study (n = 727), respondents experiencing smell distortions completed a questionnaire covering aspects of smell loss, parosmia and the associated change in valence of everyday items. There was a significant correlation between strength and disgust (p < 0.0001), and when the selected items were reported as distorted, they were described as either unpleasant or gag-inducing ...

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Keeping Emotions in Mind

Museums and the Embodied Mind: Sensory Engagement with Artworks and Architecture

Architectural Design, 2020

The familiar smell of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery is well known to Glasgow citizens. This smell i... more The familiar smell of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery is well known to Glasgow citizens. This smell is as important as the ocularcentric information that visitors receive and it is well loved. The viewer's perception of the works on display in a gallery is infl uenced by various ambient factors: not only the smell of the space, but also the perfume of other users, and the temperature and acoustics.

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What we mean, what we think we mean, and how language surprises us

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From Molecules to Perception: Philosophical Investigations of Smell

Philosophy Compass

Theories of perception have traditionally dismissed the sense of smell as a notoriously variable ... more Theories of perception have traditionally dismissed the sense of smell as a notoriously variable and highly subjective sense, mainly because it does not easily fit into accounts of perception based on visual experience. So far, philosophical questions about the objects of olfactory perception have started by considering the nature of olfactory experience. However, there is no philosophically neutral or agreed conception of olfactory experience: it all depends on what one thinks odors are. We examine the existing philosophical methodology for addressing our sense of smell: on the one hand appeals to phenomenology that focus on the experiential dimensions of odor perception and on the other approaches that look at odor sources and their material dimensions. We show that neither strategy provides enough information to account for the human sense of smell and argue that the inclusion of the missing dimension of biology, with its concern for the function (or functions) of olfaction, provides the means to develop a satisfactory and empirically informed philosophy of smell.

The Nature of Sensory Experience: the Case of Taste and Tasting

Phenomenology and Mind, 2013

Recently, psychologists and neuroscientists have provided a great deal of evidence showing that p... more Recently, psychologists and neuroscientists have provided a great deal of evidence showing that perceptual experiences are mostly multimodal. As perceivers, we don’t usually recognize them as such. We think of the experiences we are having as either visual, or auditory or tactile, not realising that they often arise from the fusion of different sensory inputs. The experience of tasting something is one such case. What we call ‘taste’ is the result of the multisensory integration of touch taste and smell. These unified flavour experiences provide a challenge when trying to reconcile the underlying processing story with the conscious experience of subjects, but they also challenge assumptions about our access to our own experiences and whether how we conceive of those experiences plays any in role in accounting for their ultimate nature.

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The perceptual categorisation of blended and single malt Scotch whiskies

Flavour, 2017

Background: Although most Scotch whisky is blended from different casks, a firm distinction exist... more Background: Although most Scotch whisky is blended from different casks, a firm distinction exists in the minds of consumers and in the marketing of Scotch between single malts and blended whiskies. Consumers are offered cultural, geographical and production reasons to treat Scotch whiskies as falling into the categories of blends and single malts. There are differences in the composition, method of distillation and origin of the two kinds of bottled spirits. But does this category distinction correspond to a perceptual difference detectable by whisky drinkers? Do experts and novices show differences in their perceptual sensitivities to the distinction between blends and single malts? To test the sensory basis of this distinction, we conducted a series of blind tasting experiments in three countries with different levels of familiarity with the blends versus single malts distinction (the UK, the USA and France). In each country, expert and novice participants had to perform a free sorting task on nine whiskies (four blends, four single malts, one single grain, plus one repeat) first by olfaction, then by tasting. Results: Overall, no reliable perceptual distinction was revealed in the tasting condition between blends and single malts by experts or novices when asked to group whiskies according to their similarities and differences. There was nonetheless a clear effect of expertise, with experts showing a more reliable classification of the repeat sample. French experts came closest to a making a distinction between blends and single malts in the olfactory condition, which might be explained by a lack of familiarity with blends. Interestingly, the similarity between the blends and some of their ingredient single malts explained more of participants' groupings than the dichotomy between blends and single malts. Conclusions: The firmly established making and marketing distinction between blends and single malts corresponds to no broad perceptually salient difference for whisky tasters, whether experts or novices. The present study indicates that successfully blended whiskies have their own distinctive and recognizable profiles, taking their place in a common similarity space, with groupings that can reflect their component parts.

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Relativism about Truth and Predicates of Taste

Filosofia Unisinos, 2012

Is relativism about truth ever a coherent doctrine? Some people have argued that an answer to thi... more Is relativism about truth ever a coherent doctrine? Some people have argued that an answer to this question depends on whether there can be cases of genuine disagreement where those who disagree hold confl icting beliefs towards the same proposition and yet are each entitled to say that what they believe is true. These have been called cases of faultless disagreement and are often explored by considering the case of disagreements about taste. However, this is not the right way to formulate the relativist's doctrine, and the discussions of taste are often based on a faulty view about the nature of taste and about the workings of predicates of taste. I examine the taste case in more detail and consider the prospects for a genuine form of truth relativism.

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Meaning in Mind: Fodor and His Critics

Philosophical Books, 1992

True Relativism, Interpretation and Our Reasons for Action

Can there be a subject matter of genuine dispute between twoparticipants where neither side has o... more Can there be a subject matter of genuine dispute between twoparticipants where neither side has overlooked any relevant fact, whereneither side has made a mistake and where both claim to be gettingmatters right? Would such a case, in effect, amount to saying that thereis no fact of the matter and that the parties must agree to differ, orcould it ever be correct to say that they were both right? The issue forthis paper is whether such a possibility makes sense and whether thereare any real such cases. Recently, Crispin Wright has attempted tomake room for such possibilities, calling the ensuing doctrine, TrueRelativism (Wright 2001, 2004). According to Wright, if there aredisputes where neither side is in error, cognitively speaking, then it maybe correct to say that the truth of the matter is relative to, and the factspartly constituted by, each participant’s starting point or perspective.Are there any plausible cases of such disputes? In what follows I offerwhat appears to be the best candidate, to be found, somewhatsurprisingly, in the work of Donald Davidson (— someone usually takento be the chief opponent of relativism). It involves a plausible casewhere there are two equally adequate rival interpretations of an agent’smental states, no grounds for choosing between them, and no reasonfor saying either is mistaken. But before we look at that case let usconsider the issue more generally.

Empathie et perception des valeurs

Dialogue, 2012

ABSTRACT: Differences of evaluative judgments are often assumed to be a reason to prefer pluralis... more ABSTRACT: Differences of evaluative judgments are often assumed to be a reason to prefer pluralism, relativism or subjectivism to objectivism, and this preference is even more pronounced in the case of judgements of taste. A comparison between perceptual and moral disagreements, however, enables us to understand that differences in judgments may be due to a difference in access to the situation or object, and not necessarily to a difference in value. The feeling of irresolvable differences that sometimes arises in situations of evaluation, may not hold in the absence of objective values and / or common values, but be due to a difficulty or inability to capture the perspective, or circumstances of assessment wherein the other agents are placed.

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The Objectivity of Tastes and Tasting

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Why Wine Tasting is So Hard

Professional tasters will tell you that despite providing an occasional source of joy, tasting wi... more Professional tasters will tell you that despite providing an occasional source of joy, tasting wines is hard work. It takes concentrated effort to get to grips with the liquid in the glass, to fix its character in mind and come to a judgment about its quality. Skills are needed that developed gradually over time and had to be learned. There is always room for improvement and the tasting of new wines offers opportunities to gain more knowledge and experience. By contrast, many people find the idea that wine tasting is hard and that we have to learn or be taught how to taste as fanciful as the idea of being taught how to see or to hear. Nothing could be easier than tasting foods or drinks. Sensations of taste begin as soon as food or drink enters the mouth. We sip or chew, then swallow. The sensations are fleeting and transient, which admittedly makes them hard to concentrate on, though they make their presence felt by leaving us with impressions of liking or disliking. So is wine tasting really that hard? The difference between these two perspectives on tasting is surprising. They leave very little room for one another&#39;s view and yet they are based directly on the personal experiences of the respective tasters. So who is right? They are both wont to express a certain incredulity about the other&#39;s stance on tasting but the very different way in which they diagnose their disagreement offers us a potential insight into the recent speight of articles professing skepticism about wine expertise.

Barry Smith

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