中國思想史上,在商周時期形成了以耳口通達內外的認知傳統;先秦時期,耳目被凸顯,目一度被聚焦,但耳目之爭,耳最終占優;秦漢時期,耳舌相爭,最終舌居先。從早期耳口配合到耳目之爭,耳占優可謂與商周古老傳統一脈相承。秦漢時期展開的耳舌之辨,舌居先,實質上亦是如此。商周以降,口先隱而後以舌顯,耳、舌的分別占優居先也是認知思想的自覺推進。最終,目、耳在諸感官之爭中分別被壓制,被味覺含攝,由此使中國認知思想與強調視覺優先、聽覺優先的認知取向漸行漸遠,最終確立了味覺優先的認知取向。味覺優先也確定了由味覺主導構成"道"等核心觀念的文化路向,由此形成了中國特有的味覺思想世界。

In the history of Chinese thought,the cognitive tradition of communicating with the inner and the outer world through the ears and mouth took shape under the Shang and Zhou dynasties.In the pre-Qin period,the ear and eye were prominent,with the eye being the focus,but in the contention between ear and eye it was the ear that ultimately came out ahead.During the Qin and the Han,in the contention between ear and tongue,it was the tongue that ultimately won out.From the harmony of ear and mouth to the contention of ear and eye,the dominance of the ear could be said to have been handed down in a continuous line of transmission from ancient Shang and Zhou tradition.The tongue's dominance in the Qin and Han contention of ear and tongue was in fact also like this;after the Shang and the Zhou,the mouth's withdrawal,followed by its reappearance with the tongue,with ear and tongue taking turns to have the upper hand,showed conscious progress in cognitive thought.Eventually,eye and ear in the contention of the senses were respectively suppressed or absorbed by the sense of taste.This meant that Chinese cognitive thought was growing further and further away from its tendency to emphasize the primacy of the senses of sight and hearing towards the primacy of the sense of taste.The primacy of taste also determined the taste-led cultural direction of the Dao and other central concepts.Thus was formed the distinctively Chinese world of thought about the sense of taste.