THE PROGRAM
The PhD fellow will be housed in the Language, Brain, and Reasoning Ph.D. program at the University of Milan and they will conduct at least one year of secondment in France, with the possibility of obtaining a dual degree. They will work in co-supervision with Prof. Andrea Borghini (UniMi) and Dr. Jérémie Lafraire (IPBR), in the highly interdisciplinary environments of Culinary Mind and IPBR. The candidate will benefit from the complementary expertise of the two partners, combining theoretical (philosophy of food) and experimental (food cognition) approaches.

THE PROJECT
CACOSITIA: The Cognitive and philosophicAl accounts of Core, mOral, aeSthetIc disgusT In the food domAin
The CACOSITIA project owes its name to the Ancient Greek term κακοσιτία (i.e. disgust targeting food). It is a collaboration between the University of Milan, Italy and the Institute Paul Bocuse Research Center (IPBR) in Lyon, France. The aim of the project is to investigate the different types of disgust: core, moral, and esthetic disgust.
Core, moral, and esthetic disgust have recently received a great deal of attention both in the philosophical and the psychological literature (Strohminger, 2014). Core disgust is an oral defense, a pathogen avoidance mechanism whose evolutionary origins have been discussed extensively (Rozin et al., 2008). Moral disgust is a disgust reaction elicited by moral violations (Rozin et al., 2009). Aesthetic disgust is a disgust reaction elicited by artistic experiences, which is suspected to contribute to enjoyment (Korsemeyer, 2021). The nature of the relationships between these different subtypes of disgust, as well as the cultural variability of their respective elicitors, remain to be theorized and investigated empirically. In this sense, CACOSITIA offers a unique opportunity to conduct original research at the crossroad between philosophy and cognitive science.

Korsmeyer, C. (2011). Savoring disgust: The foul and the fair in aesthetics. OUP USA. Rozin, P., Haidt, J., & McCauley, C. R. (2008). Disgust. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 757–776). The Guilford Press.
Rozin, P., Haidt, J., & Fincher, K. (2009). PSYCHOLOGY: From Oral to Moral. Science, 323(5918), 1179–1180. doi:10.1126/science.1170492
Strohminger, N. (2014). Disgust talked about. Philosophy Compass, 9(7), 478-493.

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS
● Possession of a Master’s degree in philosophy or cognitive science
● English is the main language of the PhD program and fluency in English is expected.

● Strong writing skills in English.
● Familiarity with core debates in: philosophy of mind and language, metaphysics and ontology, aesthetics, philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of psychology.
        
APPLICATION MATERIALS
● CV, including (if applicable) a list of academic publications.
● Application form.
● Outline of a possible PhD research project (min. 2000, max. 4000 words).

● Letter of motivation.
● At least 1 letter of recommendation.

For questions and additional information, please contact:  <andrea.borghini@unimi.it>.