Descartes’ Magical Berry
Descartes is famous among undergraduate philosophy students for his hyperbolic doubt. Early in the Meditations on First Philosophy, he provides his readers with various reasons for doubting information that is acquired from or through the senses. After pointing out that the “senses often deceive,” he suggests that it is “prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once”.
Professors of philosophy have motivated Descartes’ doubt by calling their students’ attention to ordinary perceptual errors: A stick may appear bent in a bucket of water. A large object, such as the sun, may appear quite small from a distance. And a lamp may resemble the human form in a dark and shadowy room. Now, the popularization of a fascinating berry may make philosophy class even more exciting for undergraduate students. The “miracle fruit,” Synsepalum dulcificum (which is native to West Africa), makes everything that crosses one’s taste buds taste sweet. According to the New York Times, the “cause of the reaction is a protein called miraculin, which binds with the taste buds and acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids.” The result is that something sour, such a pickle, is experienced as sweet and fruity.
Foodies and wealthy urbanites experiment with the miracle fruit at “flavor tripping parties.” But we would like to see the fruit (which we prefer to call Descartes’ Magical Berry, or Descartes’ Berry, for short) make its way into undergraduate philosophy classrooms around the world. Just imagine the possibilities. Just imagine those teaching evaluations!
The Times states that the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of miraculin as a sugar substitute in the 1970s. Interestingly, though, some have suggested that the decision was prompted by pressure from the sugar and artificial sweetening industries. In his new book, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce, and Obsession, Adam Leith Gollner presents the intriguing and uncensored history of the ‘miracle fruit’.
Read the complete story in the New York Times. Watch an interview with Gollner on Democracy Now.
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