Seite - 31 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Band 4:2

29 | www.limina-graz.eu Alessandro De Cesaris | The Taste of Truth of its environment. The exercise of taste is a repeated activity, where every occurrence keeps its structural singularity. The pivotal role played by taste in the constitution of the social space is based on the fact that it overcomes the simple opposition between subject and object: taste is utterly subjective, but it belongs to a subjectivity that does not exist without a constant tension with a world of external objects. Taste expresses the process through which “objects” are metabolised as part of the social sphere. 4.3 The metabolism of truth Following this analysis, it is possible to ask what conception of truth and of knowledge can be developed starting from the experience of taste, instead of that of sight or hearing. I would like to summarise a few core elements: ̟ Truth as subjectivation. As remarked, a “gustative” account of truth understands it beyond the opposition of subject and object. Truth is not something to contemplate, it is not an object at a distance: it is something that the subject is and becomes, rather than some- thing that the subject has or possesses. According to a metabolic understanding of truth, it is something that is processed by the subject and becomes part of it. The Christian idea of ruminatio is an example of this idea: according to this idea, the biblical text is not to be “read” or “listened to”, but literally eaten, absorbed as we do with a nourishment (cf. Koering 2021, 156). However, it is a core assumption of Christian faith – perfectly expressed by its liturgy – that truth is something that has to be eaten (cf. De Lubac 2009, 23–46). François Jullien has highlighted the importance of the metaphor of nourishment in Chinese culture (cf. Jullien 2005). ̟ Truth as pleasure. Another strong element connected to the idea of truth as something we “taste” is the image of knowledge as some- thing pleasurable. Knowledge is not separated from pleasure, and therefore it is not separated from ethics. It is not something we must “attest”, but rather something that we must savour, enjoy with every fibre of our body. This anti-intellectualistic account of truth leads, again, to the idea that it is something that engages the subject as a whole, affecting it structurally. ̟ Truth as event. If truth is tasted, then it vanishes when experienced. Each experience of truth is utterly singular, it is intimate and sub-