Benjamin D. Young - Smelling Matter.pdf

Smelling Matter by Benjamin D. Young Abstract: It is a tacit assumption of contemporary philosophy of perception that any evidence or conclusions drawn from vision will generalize across all perceptual modalities. While the objects of olfaction – smells – are intuitively individuated by reference to the ordinary objects from which they arise, this view is incorrect. This paper argues that smells are neither ordinary three dimensional objects, identified according to the criteria employed to individuate visual or auditory objects, nor vapors (as Plato proposed), nor odors. Rather, smells are the chemical structures of molecular compounds within odor plumes.