"The Critique of Pure Seasoning"

I owe the name of this blog to Lucas Keefer. It is, of course, derived from the name of Kant's greatest work.

In coming to decide what to call the blog, I relied upon the cleverness of my friends. I expressed that I wanted a name that captured the dual subject matter: philosophy on the one hand, and food and cooking (and other activities in the domestic sphere) on the other. I wanted the philosophy reference to avoid being too narrow and inaccessible (I wanted well-read non-philosophers to have a very good chance at seeing the title for its philosophical content) and I wanted the food reference to not single out any particular sort of cuisine or preparation. I wanted the title to be broad.

I decided to dedicate the first post to some of the names that didn't make the final cut.

• Philnomsophy (Jesse Sparks)
• Perspectival Palette (Me) This was supposed to be a reference to my primary area of interest, the metaphysics of perspectives and perspectival facts. Many assumed that it was a reference to Nietzsche's perspectivalism. Either would have been a fine interpretation, but my fear was that most people (a) don't recognize 'perspectival' as a word, and (b) if they do recognize that it is just and adjectival form of 'perspective', they would assume some more common, non-philosophical interpretation of the word.
• Judgments of Taste (Me) This was another reference to Kant, but it was too obscure as a Kant reference, too ubiquitous in non-philosophical usage, and also a little snooty in tone.
• A Matter of Taste (Ian Halloran)
• Taste, Anti-taste, SynthTaste (Ian Halloran)
• The Good and Good Tasting (Ian Halloran)
• Heidegger's Eggs (Zach Williams)
• You Say Tomato, I Say Moral Luck (Zach Williams)
• Does This Frying Pan Exist? (Zach Williams)
• The Fryer's Paradox (Me)
• Fetaphysics (Me)
• Roux and Groux (Me)
• Grueberry Pie (Kevin Scharp)
• I'd Rather Be Socrates Satsified... (Ian Dunkle) As I look back, I think this was an under-appreciated candidate.
• Cumin, All Too Cumin (Ian Dunkle). This may have been my favorite all around option, but both the culinary and philosophical references were too obscure. Hilarious though.
  
• Cogito Oregano Sum (Ian Dunkle) This was the finalist, ultimately getting almost as much support from the masses as Critique of Pure Seasoning. I even reserved the domain name, in case I ended up going with this one. Ultimately I decided that the Kant reference was a better pun (did less rhythmic violence to the original phrase), and was a little bit less obscure.
• The Stew From Nowhere (Ian Dunkle)
• Being and Thyme (Ian Dunkle) I'm very glad that this blog already existed. Otherwise I may have been tempted by this awful, awful pun.
  
• DeMorgan's Gruel (Lucas Keefer)
• The Intentional Flans (Lucas Keefer) The philosophical references are getting increasingly obscure.
• The Wine-Body Problem (Ian Dunkle)
• A Life Well Sieved (Me) This was a last minute write-in that actually got some surprising support, but nothing like the Descartes and Kant puns.
• Food for Thought (Melissa Rutman) Thematically perfect, but a little bit too generic for my taste (haha!). I wanted to make sure that I was the top listing of any google search for the blog's title.
• OmNomNominalism (Ben Sheredos)
• The Grill To Power (Ben Sheredos) Another last minute addition, relatively popular, but not enough to mount a challenge to the two frontrunners. Also I don't really grill.
• Finally, Coquo Ergo Sum (Jennifer McCrickerd) a last minute competitor with Cogito Oregano Sum. Apparently the latin verb 'Coquer' both means to cook (as in food) and to ruminate (as in, to stew ideas). Aside from my having already gotten pretty excited about the two finalists, my main reason for not considering this one is that the "I ____ therefore I am" formula is a fairly tired one. I like Cogito Oregano Sum simply because it isn't that; it literally translates as "I think Oregano I am"...nonsense. So even though "coquere' was so close to cogito and was so perfect for the theme of the blog, I didn't want my title to be just another (even if far more clever) iteration of a well-worn formula.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed your brainstorm muscles!