Maxime Daniel Barbier

This paper opens a new direction in the study of the meaning of odors. It investigates the cognitive ability to represent objects that stand in for sources of smells: that is, the ability of a subject to attribute to an intentional object features possessed by characteristic sources of a perceived smell. We argue that this novel capacity is sufficiently similar to one identified in auditory semantics to justify extending the existing theoretical framework of denotation by sounds and music to odors and fragrances.