The study of taste traditionally has been carried out through a paradigm of psychophysics, with it's foundational focus on subjective sensory experience. However, as the history of the study of taste unfolded, it became increasingly clear that taste must be mediated by receptors expressed in the tongue, a supposition eventually confirmed by the discovery of GPCRs critical for sweet and bitter taste signaling. This symposium will present taste phenomena, at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels of interrogation, as lawfully related to receptor function operating under principles of pharmacology.