Article: Why
We Like What We Like
By Alva Noë
By Alva Noë
Central
Argument: The author compares food to sex in a metaphorical sense. As a blind
test would prove that food tastes the same but we interpret the taste depending
on what it seems physically. This is related to sexual partner by the physical
attributes in that person, rather than the sex itself.
In her talk regarding science
and culture on the National Public Radio, Alva Noë addresses the topic of
discrimination. Not to sound too extreme, but she argues that we, as humans,
are the ones that make change things from their physical appearance; we tend to
react according to what we see. Her two examples are food and sexual partners;
they both hold a similar idea that things will taste different only
after you’ve seen their physical appearance. As Noë states
as well, food is a perfect example to describe this fact. I agree with the
author because of two major reasons: Authors Ken Kesey and Markus Zusak in
their novels One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Book Thief,
respectively, would explain why judging someone or something from physical appearances
could possibly be good or bad, depending on their situations.
Ken
Kesey explains in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, that the
patients are required to be “fixed” based on the perspective that society looks
at them from. Society considers them as outcasts based upon their actions, the
way society view them. It’s a bad way of looking at someone who is mentally
disabled and pointing out that we’re the correct form. After all, who are we to
judge?
Similarly, Markus Zusak, author of The
Book Thief, narrates the story of a young girl who trusted her foster parents
from the very beginning, but her trust led to apathy of the fact that they
would support her completely. This book is narrated from a reaper, or even
death as if it were a person. In this book, one of the morals is not to judge a
book by its cover; The setting is set in Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger, a young
Jewish girl whose parents were taken into concentration camps, assumes that her
foster parents that took her in are trust-worthy. They later choose to turn her
in as a method to avoid getting into trouble. This supports Alva Noë’s argument that we shouldn’t judge people or
things based on their appearances.
The
author provides the example regarding the experiment carried out with the blind
test between paté and dog food. This experiment proved that both dishes will
taste familiar, if not almost the same, showing that it’s upon the human’s views
that change their actions. When I, or should apply to anyone, go to a
restaurant, the setting and theme of the place definitely affects how good the
food will turn out. My mouth waters easily when I go to an expensive and well
known restaurant. This affects the way I look at the food, and quite often it’s
changes my perspective on the quality of the food as well.
Markus
Zasak, and Australian author, and Ken Kesey to support her argument, I agree
with Alva Noë’s
article upon the fact that judging from physical appearances is bad, but yet –
as humans – we continue to do so. She provides simple day to day example like
the food we eat or from sexual partners (day-to-day may still apply).