#Smell and Memory

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of the Nose

The philosophy of the nose explores the sensory, symbolic, and cultural roles of the sense of smell and the organ that enables it. The nose is not only a physical organ responsible for olfactory perception but also a symbol tied to memory, identity, aesthetics, and even morality in certain contexts. Smell, often considered the most primal sense, is closely linked to emotion, memory, and instinct, raising important questions about how we experience and interpret the world through scent.

Key Themes in the Philosophy of the Nose:

Olfactory Perception and Reality:

Smell provides a unique way of perceiving the world, often triggering instinctual reactions and deep emotional responses. The nose connects us to the world in an intimate and often unconscious way, influencing our experience of places, people, and objects.

Unlike vision or hearing, smell is immediate and can evoke strong visceral reactions without the mediation of conscious thought. Philosophically, this raises questions about epistemology—how we know the world through our senses—and how smell contributes to our understanding of reality.

Smell and Memory:

The olfactory system is closely tied to the limbic system in the brain, which is involved in emotion and memory. Smells can evoke powerful memories and emotions, often more intensely than visual or auditory stimuli.

Proust's madeleine moment is a famous example of how smell can trigger involuntary memories, leading to philosophical reflections on the nature of memory, time, and identity.

Smell, Identity, and the Self:

The nose and the sense of smell can play a role in personal and cultural identity. Scents are deeply tied to individual experiences, cultures, and environments, influencing how we relate to the world and to others.

Certain smells are associated with specific cultures, environments, or personal histories, shaping our sense of self and belonging. The philosophy of identity can explore how smell contributes to the formation of personal and collective identity.

Aesthetics of Smell:

While much of aesthetics focuses on visual or auditory experiences, the sense of smell also plays a significant role in how we appreciate beauty and form judgments of taste. Perfumes, natural scents, and even the smells of foods are part of an aesthetic experience.

Philosophers have debated why the sense of smell has historically been undervalued in aesthetic theory, and what it means to cultivate an "aesthetic of smell" that acknowledges its role in shaping our emotional and sensory worlds.

Ethics of Smell:

Smell can evoke reactions of attraction or repulsion, influencing judgments about cleanliness, health, and even moral character. Throughout history, certain smells have been associated with purity or pollution, raising ethical questions about the role of smell in social norms and moral judgments.

The philosophy of ethics can explore how smell is used to draw distinctions between good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, or clean and unclean, often reinforcing social or cultural hierarchies.

Smell and Power:

The regulation of smell has often been a form of social control, from the policing of personal hygiene to the management of public spaces. The way societies regulate smells can reflect deeper power structures and cultural values.

Foucault’s concept of biopower can be applied to how societies manage the body through norms of cleanliness, scent, and hygiene, illustrating how the sense of smell is embedded in larger systems of control and discipline.

The Symbolism of the Nose:

The nose has symbolic meanings in many cultures. It can represent intuition, instinct, or primal knowledge. The expression "having a nose for something" implies an intuitive or natural talent for detecting things, often beyond the reach of rational thought.

In literature and mythology, the nose often symbolizes pride, curiosity, or even moral shortcomings, as seen in stories like Pinocchio, where the nose grows as a marker of dishonesty.

Smell and the Sublime:

The sublime, as a concept in philosophy, typically involves overwhelming experiences that go beyond the ordinary—often in the realms of sight or sound. Smell, with its ability to evoke deep, primal reactions, also has the potential to contribute to experiences of the sublime.

Scents that are awe-inspiring, repellent, or overwhelming can lead to philosophical reflections on the boundaries of human experience and how smell contributes to feelings of transcendence or horror.

Smell and the Unconscious:

Smell is often processed on an unconscious level, influencing mood, attraction, and behavior without entering conscious awareness. The philosophy of the unconscious, particularly in the work of Freud, can explore how olfactory experiences tap into deeper layers of the psyche.

Smell can trigger unconscious desires, fears, or memories, raising questions about the role of the unconscious in shaping human experience.

Smell and Environmental Philosophy:

The environment and its smells play a significant role in our experience of nature. Fresh air, the scent of rain, or the smell of forests can evoke feelings of peace and connection with nature, while pollution and unpleasant odors can signify environmental degradation.

Environmental philosophy explores the relationship between humans and the natural world, with smell serving as a powerful sensory link that informs our understanding of nature's health and vitality.

The philosophy of the nose invites us to reconsider the often overlooked sense of smell as a profound and influential part of human experience. From its role in memory and identity to its aesthetic, ethical, and symbolic dimensions, the nose plays a critical part in how we navigate and interpret the world. Philosophically, the sense of smell challenges the dominance of sight and hearing in traditional sensory hierarchies, offering a rich field for exploration in both individual and cultural contexts.

[mulderscully]

TAYLOR SWIFT The Eras Tour, 2023

[queermasculine]

you don't need to smell like you just stepped out of the shower to be likeable or attractive btw i feel especially women need to hear this

[so-i-did-this-thing]

The ironic thing about returning to my floofy forelock look is that age + T have now made it necessary I use a blow dryer & hairspray to achieve the volume I once had without effort, and I distinctly remember teenage me (during peak 80s and early 90s fashion) desperately wishing to be forever free of these styling aids.

[thatbitchsimone]

im fucking fuming over this i cant even lie like what the actual fuck is this. straight up evil behavior. also good job literally flat out admitting amber was indeed abused by depp since u fully acknowledged that she suffers from ptsd and that the ptsd is directly related/linked to him. literally just proudly telling us that ”yeah i knew he had abused amber and that amber has ptsd from it so i decided that we should try to give her panic attacks and just totally torment her like wouldnt it be so funny to give her flashbacks so she feels like shes being raped again lol she will look so craaazyyy” like honestly kill urself

[betweenblackberrybranches]

An old flyer for the commercial daycare of a certain furniture store that takes care of children while the parents shop... Blaubeerland🫐🌞🫐

[nyaa]

2007-11-01

[marlynnofmany]

Similar Skill Sets

“Aw, man,” I muttered, staring at the board game. “Was it this one or that one? I was trying to get over here, but you moved that row. I think it’s this one?” My finger hovered over the switch on one nearly-identical tile among many.

Captain Sunlight gave away nothing, her scaly yellow face serene. “Make your move.”

“It already smells like a flower shop threw up in here.” I struggled with the switch, my human fingernail barely up to the task usually meant for Heatseeker claws. When it finally clicked, the tile spurted a weak jet of scent. This one smelled more leafy than flowery, but I still had no flaming idea if it was the one I was trying to find. I sniffed the scent compartment of the token I’d drawn, hoping they matched. Leafy? Vines, maybe?

“I’m sorry it’s such an old model,” said Captain Sunlight, taking pity on me and drawing her next token. “The scents are fainter than they should be. Maybe we can get replacement cartridges at the next station.”

I sighed as I watched her make three moves in a row, matching up scented tiles and rearranging the maze of the board until I’d lost all idea of where my target was. “Somehow I don’t think that would help.”

She sat back, idly spinning the last token she needed to find. “I wonder if there’s a model with scents from your planet. This is a pretty popular game; it only makes sense that they would branch out.”

“Maybe.” I stared at the maze, plotting pathways and trying to find a target that I could reach in a single turn. My odds weren’t great that it would be the right one, but that was better than nothing. “I’d probably be able to tell them apart better if they were things like cinnamon and citrus, but if the game makers just went for all flowers there too, I’d still be guessing. It’s not my area of expertise.” I shifted a row and moved my piece, then spent a moment trying once again to identify a scent.

“That’s the one you tried last time,” Captain Sunlight told me, dashing all hopes. Her next move was swift and decisive, countering the detour I’d just thrown in her path. She set her final token on the stack of others and waggled her fingers in silent triumph.

I slumped against the backrest. “This is definitely not my game.”

The captain began disassembling the board. “How about you pick the next one?”

“My pleasure,” I said in relief, immediately moving toward the entertainment cabinet. This lounge was well stocked after our last stop. “Want to do a puzzle?”

“What kind? Cube, sphere, string?”

“Uh, the regular flat kind,” I said, holding up the box. It showed a lovely nature scene (waterfall), a piece count (100), and a planet of origin (Earth).

“That sounds refreshingly different,” said Captain Sunlight. She carefully fitted the scent tiles into their insulated compartment. “Competitive or cooperative?”

“Cooperative,” I said, bringing it over to the table while she finished putting away the other game. “Though I suppose there’s room for trash talk about who’s working faster.”

“How very considerate. Have you played this with Trrili or Zhee yet?”

“Not yet,” I said with a smile, easily able to imagine the amount of agitated hissing and pincher clicks that would come from a competitive game between those two. “This one’s new. I was thinking Blip and Blop might like it.” The Frillian twins were also competitive, though they worked well together. I had no idea if they were any good at puzzles.

Time to see if the captain was. She set aside the other box and I opened this one, spilling the hundred puzzle pieces onto the table and getting to work flipping them over.

Captain Sunlight followed my lead. “So is the goal to assemble them in a certain pattern?”

“Yeah, they make up this picture.” I pointed at the box. “It’s easiest once they’re all color-side up.”

“I see,” she said, as focused as if she was studying a new trade language. “How long do you expect this round to take?”

“This one should be pretty quick,” I told her. “It’s just a hundred pieces, and a lot of different colors. If this was a picture of a green field with a blue sky and not much else, that would be a lot more annoying.”

“Seems like that would be less to keep track of.”

“Sure, but fewer clues about where things go.” I held up a fragment of vivid purple. “This one, for example, can only go in the corner. No mystery there.” I pointed out the matching flower on the box.

Captain Sunlight nodded, still looking serious. “Right. Deduction. So do we take turns?”

“Nah, that would take too long. It’s more fun just to go for it. Unless you want to make it harder?”

“No no, the regular way is fine.” She hurried to flip over the last few, then looked at me and waited.

“Righto. The best way to start is by finding the corners first, then the edges. It narrows things down. Do you see any corners? Here’s one.”

We began. It really was an easy puzzle, but I could see the captain was struggling. This was a surprise, to say the least. Sunlight was smart. Always thinking ahead, clever and levelheaded and full of insights, but she seemed to have trouble guessing which direction a piece should go, even when it was perfectly obvious to me.

“Oh hey,” I said. “I was looking for that one. It goes right here.”

“This way?”

“Turn it so the sticking-out bit goes … yeah, like that.”

“And is this one also part of this red patch?”

“No, that one has smaller red petals; it belongs in the other spot. I JUST saw the piece that fits it, too; that was overrrrr… Here it is!” I plucked it out of the mess and Captain Sunlight handed me the other piece, letting me put them where they belonged.

I suggested, “See if you can find all the speckled blue ones, and we can fill in this area.”

She gamely searched for blue among the chaos of colors, visibly scanning pieces one at a time with concentration on her lizardy face. I hesitated over whether to pretend I couldn’t see all five of the pieces we needed, or to speed things up. I settled on grabbing material for the grassy area nearby, only picking out the last blue one when she’d found the rest.

This turned into a pattern of me asking for pieces in a certain color, which she gathered slowly and I assembled. The puzzle took about three times as long to finish as I’d thought.

“Success!” the captain said as she clicked the last piece into place. (I’d left it for her to do the honors.) “That was surprisingly challenging. I must say, I’m glad it wasn’t competitive.”

“Ah, you wouldn’t have lost as badly as I did in that last game,” I said, lying through my human teeth.

“That’s kind of you to say,” she told me. “I do wonder how some of the rest of the crew would take to this, though. Mur is always looking for a difficult game he can excel at.”

“Because you usually beat him?” I guessed with a grin, quieting when I picked up the sound of tentacles approaching down the hallway.

A blue-black squid head appeared around the corner. “I hear it’s game time in here!” Mur declared. “And we have new puzzles after the last stop.”

“Do you mean this puzzle?” I asked, gesturing at the completed waterfall. “Lemme just take it back apart—”

Mur ignored me, tentacle-walking over to fling open the cabinet and reach in. “These puzzles!” he exclaimed, pulling out several Strongarm puzzle cubes. “We’ve got a range of difficulty levels here. These two are unsuited to fingers, but I imagine you poor souls with no tentacles could manage one of these!”

He lined them up along the edge of the table with all the flair of a children’s magician, or maybe an older sibling who was looking forward to seeing the younger kids suffer. Since I’d been subjected to the Strongarm version of a “simple kid’s challenge” before and nearly dislocated something, that seemed appropriate.

I sighed and exchanged looks with Captain Sunlight. She didn’t seem particularly excited either.

Then more tentacles slapped down the hall, and Wio joined us. “Hey! Kavlae says it’s puzzle time! I told Mimi to take a break from the tool-sorting he’s been doing, and we can see who’s puzzle master today.”

The look I exchanged with Captain Sunlight now was different. “Let me just clear the table for you,” I said, picking up the puzzle box.

“Yes, by all means,” said the captain. “You can have my chair.”

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[activatebutterflyshield]

Undersea Doggerland, angel of all that has been consumed by the waves, that has rotted into peat, and has been worn into sand.

[afairycreature]

[scobbe]

I was just powerfully reminded of what it was like to rent movies, like you gotta understand, the plan would be to watch a movie at home but first you had to GO OUT to Blockbuster or whatever. So even on movie night you had this little adventure with your friends, maybe got ice-cream or picked up a pizza along the way or maybe it was a last stop after shopping or something. But when I was 16 or 18 or whatever it was just such a fun time. Then go to someone’s house and watch the movie. Then argue about who would take it back the next day. Good times, good times.

[heylittleriotact]

Emmrich is fastidious in his grooming habits and wouldn’t be caught dead (lol) looking anything other than his best at all times, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s afraid to get dirty: the man works with the deceased. Embalming people requires a strong stomach. If anything he’s the one stepping up to deal with the bag of extremely rotten carrots that fell behind the shelf in the pantry and remained there for a month before the smell got so bad *someone* had to deal with it.

It makes his entire DAY when the gang stumbles upon a corpse that’s been dead for awhile and he’s going, “The advancement of tissue gas at this stage of decomposition has turned his skin that striking chartreuse colour - if you gently press on it you can actually feel the bubbles snapping under the dermis! Give me your hand, Rook!”

Meanwhile everyone else is gagging or actually throwing up because of the smell alone - never mind the green bloated dead guy.

[hootybal-lecter]

"Book Hannibal is a Mary Sue" is probably my favorite take on the series ever because it's not only funny, it's accurate.

[crystallizsch]

you cost 150 gems/tokens from the memory shop i hate you

[sysig]

Experimentation (Patreon)

[kortac-sweetheart]

i haven’t been a big fan of putting on fragrances for bed but now i am because like… i love dabbing some perfume on my suprasternal notch (space in between collar bones) and usually because i use oils it’s a more intimate scent bubble and uhh :) cuddling with nikto and his head is pressed right against your chest, nose nuzzled right near your sternum; super close to your collar bones where your perfume is.

of course he has his favorites out of your collection, ones that remind him of a home long gone— one that only exists in his dreams. of a time in his childhood where there would be a steaming pot of russian caravan on the table, of toasted silk road spices and worn leathers and suedes, of a roaring hearth in the heart of a home. (you’re already his home but whenever you wear that one, you become even more comforting than usual.)

but as usual, he’s also partial to ones that you like as well. that floral one… he doesn’t know how to describe it. but to him, it’s walking hand in hand with you while snow gently drifts to the earth, lying together under the wisteria blossoms (you had to tell him what flower was in here, otherwise he’d never know.)

or that one, with creamy rose and marshallowed jasmine—it reminds him of when he was young again. just a mere boy, trying to sneak a bite of dessert before being caught red-handed by his mother. reminds him of the vase of fresh roses that always adorned their living room. of christmas celebrations.

and another one that you got recently, of delicate and sheer peach skins and spring blooms that make you seem spring incarnate. reminds him of rolling green fields and of his desire to hand feed you peach slices until you smile.

he always looks forward to bed time with you. not that he didn’t before, but drifting off in your arms with the scent he helped you pick out is nothing short of a dream for him.