FYS 68 A Foodie’s Philosophy
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the famous Mexican philosopher-playwright-poet-feminist declared that “it is possible to philosophize while preparing dinner”, adding that “if Aristotle had cooked, he would have written much more“. The aim of this course is to prove her right. In particular, we will examine how a serious examination of food (eating, cooking, hosting, agriculture, etc.) lends itself to a foodie’s philosophy and challenges basic assumptions in the western philosophical tradition, such as the belief that food is cannot be a work of art, that knowledge is not associate with the sense of taste, that hospitality is not an ethical virtue, and that food (broadly construed) is not a basic element of what makes us distinctly human.
Prerequisite
Open only to first year frosh