Synopses & Reviews
Philosophy has often been criticized for privileging the abstract; this volume attempts to remedy that situation. Focusing on one of the most concrete of human concerns, food, the editors argue for the existence of a philosophy of food. The collection provides various approaches to the subject matter, offering new readings of a number of texts--religious, philosophical, anthropological, culinary, poetic, and economic. Included are readings ranging from Plato's Phaedo and Verses of Sen-No-Rikyu to Peter Singer's "Becoming a Vegetarian" and Jean-François Revel's Culture and Cuisine.
This reader will have particular appeal for philosophers working in social theory, feminist theory, and environmental ethics, and for those working on alternative approaches to such traditional subject areas as epistemology, aesthetics, and metaphysics.
Synopsis
"This is a surprisingly wonderful anthology that truly practices what it preaches. And what it preaches is that practice . . . is more nourishing than preaching." -Hungry Mind Review
About the Author
DEANE W. CURTIN, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College, has published in the areas of philosophy of art and environmental ethics. LISA M. HELDKE, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College, writes and teaches in the area of pragmatist feminism.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Deane W. Curtin and Lisa M. Heldke
Section One
Deane W. Curtin: Food/Body/Person
Denise Levertov: Matins (excerpt)
Plato: from PHAEDO
Susan Bordo: Anorexia Nervosa: Psychopathology as the Crystallization of Culture
Kim Chernin: Confessions of an Eater
Kelly Oliver: Nourishing the Speaking