Sofia Livi

One of the central debates in the contemporary science of affectivity concerns the structure of affective valence. Recent discussion has focused on the possibility of affectively mixed experiences–experiences that are pleasant and unpleasant at the same time. Yet this debate has almost exclusively centered on one class of such experiences: mixed emotions. In this paper, we argue that affective perceptual experiences provide a promising avenue for advancing our understanding of affectively mixed experience. Focusing on the neglected case of olfaction, we first argue that phenomenological evidence supports the existence of affectively mixed olfactory experiences. We then show that, owing to the distinctive temporal dynamics of olfactory processing, these experiences resist a reductive explanation in terms of the vacillation hypothesis, the leading reductive account of affectively mixed phenomenology. Finally, we assess the existing empirical evidence for affectively mixed olfactory experiences and propose experimental paradigms to guide future research.

Interoception has received growing attention in the past few decades. Yet, its conceptual foundations remain underexplored. This paper aims to expose conceptual limitations in dominant accounts of interoception, which are typically either viscerocentric or internalist. I argue that current philosophical definitions of interoception fail to accommodate the bidirectional feedback loop between olfaction and metabolic regulation: olfactory cues can influence metabolic processes, and metabolism can recalibrate olfactory perception from its earliest stages. Towards this goal, I open three lines of reflection. First, interoception should not be understood as purely descriptive; it involves a pre-scriptive, regulation-oriented dimension. Second, its functional scope extends beyond homeostasis to encompass allostasis, integrating environmental cues into predictive bodily control. Third, a sharp divide between interoception and exteroception is questionable and warrants further assessment, given that sensory processes, including olfactory ones, regulate and are regulated by thebody’s internal milieu. These considerations call for revising existing models to better capture interoception’s integration into broader architectures of bodily regulation.