The ‘olfactory us’: Social interaction and chemosignals

What do we lose in our social lives when we lose olfaction? Many theories would agree that we lose access to certain sensory information and, with it, the possibility of perceiving others, the environment, and even ourselves as we once did. This paper argues that losing olfaction also entails a more fundamental loss: a prereflective, unconscious layer of affective and behavioral attunement that continuously shapes how we interact with others—an ‘olfactory us’. To this end, it offers an empirically informed philosophical discussion of the role of chemosignals—volatile molecules emitted through breath, sweat, and bodily fluids—in everyday face-to-face social interaction. Philosophically, the analysis is framed within James J. Gibson’s ecological approach to perception and Shaun Gallagher’s Interaction Theory; empirically, it focuses on the detection of chemosignals and the physical properties of odors rather than on smells and their experience. The main claim it offers is that chemosignals contribute to social interaction by shaping the agents’ emotional states and intentionality and thereby modulating the perception of affective and behavioral aspects. It is also argued that this dynamic might be of particular relevance in group interactions.