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One way of looking at this Reflections on an Aesthetics of Touch, Smell and Taste is to imagine that you go to a museum or gallery where they place a mask over you’re eyes and you experience a dish of bananas and strawberries solely by your sense of smell. Or you’re allowed to examine each sculpture in a gallery, but only by touch. It feels like a bust of David, but whether it looks like David is another matter. So is it art. Not exactly a burning debate, but it does point out how visual the arts are, with the glaring exception of music.

1. Why Are Philosophers Reticent about Touch, Smell and Taste?

The haptic sense encompassing the feeling of touch, temperature, pain, movement and force, the olfactory sense and the sense of taste have traditionally been neglected in the history of aesthetics. When they have been taken into consideration, it was only to deny the existence of art forms that address these senses. Let us begin by having a look at the objections brought against their aesthetic potential.

She does get worked up about the neglect of the tactile senses in art, kind of a surprising attitude in a philosophy paper. While its an interesting observation, its not something that keeps me up at night. You know having deep concerns that some creator of great smelling art is being neglected by the ignorant masses.

In book, ex-CIA chief assails Cheney on Iraq invasion

“There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat,” Tenet writes in a devastating judgment that is likely to be debated for many years. Nor, he adds, “was there ever a significant discussion” about the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion.

Tenet admits that he made his famous “slam dunk” remark about the evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. But he argues that the quote was taken out of context and that it had little impact on President Bush’s decision to go to war. He also makes clear his bitter view that the administration made him a scapegoat for the Iraq war.

…. As violence in Iraq spiraled beginning in late 2003, Tenet writes, “rather than acknowledge responsibility, the administration’s message was: Don’t blame us. George Tenet and the CIA got us into this mess.”

Lots of potential here for a new reality show. Every week four teams set off on a search for someone that still likes or respects Dick Cheney. The winner gets a week’s stay at Dick’s Baghdad Country Club where victory is around every corner.