| I got to wondering about this in our "Psychoanalysis and Cinema" module. There were references to a theory concerning "abjection", formulated by Julia Kristeva and relating to why we're disgusted or appalled by bodily fluids and things that remind us of the permeability of the body (and thus induce death anxiety). I mention this because, during one of the seminars, we all had to say things that we found disgusting. My pet hate is, and has always been, baked beans, which apparently fits quite nicely into Kristeva's theory.
I've always been a bit of a fussy eater, and I know that sometimes, it's because of specific things - I nearly choked on a load of really badly cooked pasta when I was a kid of 7-8, and it's taken me a good 15 years to actually eat it again (I still don't much care for it, though). On the other hand, I saw a show about child development, where they were saying that kids (toddler age, this time) develop likes and dislikes almost arbitrarily, as a means of creating an identity for themselves.
I find this sort of thing interesting. The dreaded "big questions" aren't so interesting because we know pretty much from the off that we can't answer them or even really come close, but questions about why we do the things we do at least seem like they're worth trying to get t the bottom of. |