Philosophy and Wine

Wine first played a part in the history of Western philosophy at the symposium of the early Greek philosophers where it enlivened and encouraged discussion. Later, during the Enlightenment, David Hume recommended drinking wine with friends as a cure for philosophical melancholy, and Immanuel Kant thought wine softened the harsher sides of men’s characters and made their company more convivial. In recent times, philosophers have turned their philosophical attention to wine as an object of perception, assessment, and appreciation. Their enquiries have focused on the relationship between wine and our experience of it, including its intoxicating effect on us (see drunkenness), and the meaning and value it has for us in our lives (see Scruton 2009).