A world of odours

Contemporary philosophical discussions of olfaction are dominated by two issues: (1) whether olfactory experience is spatial; and (2) whether it represents objects. Although it might seem that these two questions are related, discussion has centred on whether the representation of space is necessary for object representation in olfaction. This chapter introduces an olfactory analogue of P. F. Strawson’s discussion of a world consisting entirely of sounds. It draws on the analogue of Strawson’s discussion and the results of recent olfactory experiments to consider the role that olfactory experience could play in supporting a conception of an objective world consisting entirely of odours. The chapter concludes that, in order to form a conception of persisting, reidentifiable odours, we would need, as Strawson concludes, to draw on the ways other senses relate us to a three-dimensional space in which material objects (i.e., odour sources) are basic.