Page - 23 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 4:2

21 | www.limina-graz.eu Alessandro De Cesaris | The Taste of Truth Finally, mediation is not simply transformation, because transformation can be an autonomous process. In other words, transformation is still pos- sible in a completely monistic ontology. On the contrary, mediation struc- turally requires heteronomy, namely the tension between what is mediated and “something else”, the medium itself (cf. Krämer 2015, 165ff.). In this way, it is possible to describe mediation as a dynamic, asymmetrical and heteronomous function. Now, in the case of the senses it is possible to distinguish three different forms of mediation: ̟ Physiological mediation. At this level, the object is mediated into the sensible through physiological (eminently material) processes: the object is now light, vibration, pressure. The physiological level is where our sensible disposition is analysed. ̟ Aesthetic mediation. At this level, the sensible is mediated by the sense organ. The sensible becomes sensation, sense data (colour, brightness, pitch, volume, texture, smell etc.). ̟ Symbolic mediation. Finally, the forms of our sensibility can be ex- tended beyond the physical dimension, and they can become ac- tive on other levels of awareness: imagination, language, abstract thought. In this case, sensibility itself is mediated into a symbolic form (cf. Cassirer 1980, 73–85). It is important to clarify that, of course, these three aspects cannot be con- ceived as separated; they can be distinguished only for the sake of the anal- ysis. This brief sketch should be enough to clarify the kind of analysis I will offer in the three following sections. Each section, in fact, will focus on one of these dimensions of taste. 2 Physiology of Taste 2.1 Minimal life The first and most peculiar feature of taste is its structural connection with nutrition, namely with the simplest and most fundamental faculty of living beings in general. More radically, one could say that taste is the expression of the nutritive function in the life of humans. In a way, this means that among the senses, taste is the only truly unavoid- able one. We can live, in principle, without looking, smelling or listening –