Nicholas Reimann
- Email: pr16nsr@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives
 on the Interaction of Ethical and Aesthetic Value in Food
- Supervisor: Dr Pam Birtill (she/her), Professor Aaron Meskin (School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science)
Profile
I obtained my BA (Hons) in Combined Honours in Arts from Durham University. The flexible nature of this degree programme allowed me to explore a broad range of topics in philosophy, physics, and political theory. I then built on this diverse academic foundation by pursuing an MA in Philosophy of Science (Distinction) at the University of Leeds.
My doctoral research, funded by a Leeds Global Challenge Doctoral Scholarship, takes an interdisciplinary approach that integrates philosophical and empirical methods to explore the interaction between ethical and aesthetic (in the sense of gustatory) value in food.
Research interests
My main research interest is in how ethical information affects the taste experience of food. I explore this question both from a philosophical as well as from an empirical perspective.
Philosophers of art often talk about whether the ethical quality of an artwork can affect the aesthetic quality of that artwork — does it, say, make a film aesthetically worse (or better) because it has a really immoral (or moral) message? — and I’m interested in extending this debate to the case of food.
To complement this theoretical approach, I also run studies that empirically explore how labelling a food in various ethically relevant ways can psychologically affect the taste experience of those foods.
Qualifications
- MA Philosophy of Science
- BA (Hons) Combined Honours in Arts (Philosophy, Physics, and Political Theory)