I have a theory that the more we know, the more complicated things are. I wondered if the five senses are universal to beings on the planet. Well, is it five senses? Is it six, or nine, or is it 22 or 33? How did this happen when I wasn't paying attention - are there are six times more senses than before? And Aristotle as been declared wrong on the number five.
Margaret Crable writes this:
"While the notion that people have five basic human senses is often considered a universal truth and can be traced back to Aristotle’s De Anima (On the Soul), many philosophers and neuroscientists are now debating whether we may have anywhere from 22 to 33 different senses.
Among these lesser-known senses are equilibrioception, which is associated with our sense of balance; proprioception, which enables us to know which parts of our bodies are where without looking; and chronoception, how we sense the passing of time."
What about what she calls the "X" Sense? That's the sixth sense that is under debate. The one that is known as extrasensory perception.
But let's get back to the other senses that we haven't been naming in the past:
If we were to think of 9, then the list is vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, pain, mechanoreception (balance etc.), temperature, interoreceptors (e.g. blood pressure, bladder stretch).
If we want to find out about the 21/22 or 33 senses, then the table below is our guide.
So I prove my theory of the day. The more we know, the more complicated it becomes.
I do like a comparison table, though.
Here's a whimsical moment in a back garden on Elizabeth Street in Grimsby.
