fool ,

The "we have more than 5 senses" insistence, while interesting, misconstrues what is typically understood as a "sense" by the average person.

When children are taught what the 5 senses are, i.e. seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell, these are more literary senses than scientific ones. (In another vein, it's like disagreeing whether a tomato is a vegetable, fruit, or both -- scientists and cooks have different definitions!)

Proprioception, the unconscious spatial perception of your body parts, falls under "feel." Hunger and thirst do, too. I feel hungry, I feel that my leg is below me, I feel off-balance. These scientifically-defined senses fall under one literary sense or another.

Since this is just a mangling of definitions, it's almost irresponsible to call the five-senses thing a misconception. That being said, it did interest me; did you know that endolymph fluid in our ears uses its inertia to tell us what's going on when we turn our heads? ツ

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • random
  • coolguides@lemmy.ca
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines