Producing Sense, Comsuming Sense, Making Sense: Perils and Prospects for Sensory History

Smith, Mark M.

doi:10.1353/jsh.2007.0116

Cited by 82 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Despite persistent attempts from neuroscientists (Carter, 2002;Humphrey, 1992;Gregory, 1987), historians (Smith, 2007(Smith, , 2008Roeder Jr., 1994), philosophers (Ryle, 1968), and sociologists (Simmel, 1921;Vannini, Waskul and Gottschalk, 2014;Back, 2007;Oswell, 2009;Rhys-Taylor, 2013) who would dismiss such statements as profoundly senseless, the existing literature on intellectuals fails to adequately account for the role of the senses as 'gates and windows of knowledge' (Drummond in Humphrey, 1992: 30). The problem with such a position is that it erroneously treats 'the intellect' as 'distinct in essence from the senses' (Maritain, 1976: 107), thereby conflating the life of the mind with the life of the head and reducing thinking to its dianoetic function, despite overwhelming evidence of the impossibility to neatly separate the workings of such a 'lateralised' network of organs as the mind (Carter, 2002: 54).…”

Section: What Does Intellectual Life Consist Of?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Becoming public characters, not public intellectuals

Fatsis

2016

European Journal of Social Theory

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Research into the sociology of intellectual life reveals numerous appeals to the public conscience of intellectuals. The way in which concepts such as "the public intellectual" or "intellectual life" are discussed however, conceals a long history of biased thinking about thinking as an elite endeavour with prohibitive requirements for entry. This article argues that this tendency prioritises the intellectual realm over the public sphere, and betrays any claims to public relevance unless a broader definition of what counts as intellectual life is introduced. By calling for a shift from the notion of public intellectuals to Jane Jacobs ' (1961) idea of the 'public character', a publicly-situated and affect-laden conception of intellectual life is articulated with the aim of redefining intellectual life as an ordinary, collective pursuit, rather than the prerogative of a few extraordinary individuals, as well as restoring the role of the senses in theoretical discussions on the life of the mind. The theoretical scope of this paper therefore is to cast the net wider in search for meanings of what public intellectual life is, can or may be in a larger context than "intellectualist" discussions currently allow. Full ArticleThis article sets out to discuss, critique, and repair the idea of public intellectuals as it currently informs the relevant literature in social theory. By arguing against and beyond the existing theoretical body of work on public intellectuals, an alternative conception of intellectual life is offered in the article's last section. The main argument here espoused, puts forward the view that the current interpretive framework with which social theorists approach intellectual life, reads like a rule book of exclusions which treats the life of the mind as an elite endeavour with prohibitive requirements for entry. For all its virtues and good intentions, such an understanding of intellectual life as beholden to a specific type of activity (thinking), an extraordinary kind of person (the intellectual), and a particular habitat (the world of letters), reflects a strikingly limited conception of what intellectual life is, may, or can be, a restricted sense of where intellectual life can be found, or made, and a puzzlingly stereotyped shortlist of potential candidates for the role.

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Section: What Does Intellectual Life Consist Of?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Becoming public characters, not public intellectuals

Fatsis

2016

European Journal of Social Theory

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“…Yet we should always remain aware of the changed context in which we perceive odors from the past as historiographer Mark Smith argues in his famous article on sensory reconstructions 12 . Smelling a scent from the past, doesn't mean we undergo the same sensation as the contemporary perceiver.…”

Section: Inhaling History Of Art?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Surreal aroma's. (Re)constructing the volatile heritage of Marcel Duchamp

Verbeek

2016

relief

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No ‘visual’ artist addressed the sense of smell as often as Marcel Duchamp did. Whereas his solid objects can still be studied visually and textually, the scents he used have by now evaporated, and a vocabulary to describe them is lacking until today. What we have left are nose witness reports and the possibility to smell olfactory reconstructions. Rereading canonical text with a more sensory gaze and inhaling these historical fragrances, such as cedar, erotic perfumes and coffee, will enable us to reconstruct the olfactory dimension of our highly ocularcentric history of art.

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“…The prevailing wisdom, the argument that the rise of modernity empowered the eye and denigrated the other senses (especially that of smell), has trouble explaining the enduring importance of the proximate senses to racial constructions in the modern period generally. 24 Eine Privilegierung der Sinne des "guten Lebens" (siehe oben) lässt sich nicht unbedingt verzeitlichen. Vielmehr spricht Smiths Beispiel dafür, sich vom linearen Denken in der Sinnes-und ebenso in der Emotionengeschichte zu verabschieden.…”

Section: Ralf-peter Fuchsunclassified

8.2 Tangendo. Überlegungen zur frühneuzeitlichen Sinnes- und Emotionengeschichte

Jarzebowski¹

2015

Praktiken Der Frühen Neuzeit

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Producing Sense, Comsuming Sense, Making Sense: Perils and Prospects for Sensory History

Cited by 82 publications

References 54 publications

Becoming public characters, not public intellectuals

Becoming public characters, not public intellectuals

Surreal aroma's. (Re)constructing the volatile heritage of Marcel Duchamp

8.2 Tangendo. Überlegungen zur frühneuzeitlichen Sinnes- und Emotionengeschichte

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