Where did the theory of the 5 senses and empirical research originate?
Traditionally, humans are considered to have 5 senses, but there are other senses that are attributed to other species. For example, fish are able to detect electrical fields, birds are able to detect magnetic fields, and fish have also been recognized to detect pressure and current in their environment.
Have experiments been performed to examine whether these senses could exist in humans, and could they exists in humans?
Also, there are other "senses" in humans like the sense of passing time that do not seem to be isolated to any specific physical organ. Are these additional "senses" included in observations when performing empirical or scientific studies?
Pascha2009-10-03T05:51:52Z
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That is our conventional way of thinking about the senses.
There are many human abilities we do not understand. Scientific knowledge will advance further, and some day people will know more about human capabilities. What some skeptics today call myth or irrelevant anecdotal evidence or even lies will be explained.
All living creatures can sense and feel sources of energy. What animals can and can not see is still science and research. We know dogs have a keen sense of smell and hearing, but have no idea what they can and can not actually see. Cats have a totally different type of vision that may or may not allow it to see Spirits. For humans a Ghost experience would definitely be a rare and unusual experience that would be astronomically low in numbers world wide. There are a lot of variables and factors that need to be taken into consideration. The other issue that is very real, is this is all assumptions, speculations and theories people make and create. There is no way to prove Paranormal because there are no proven hard facts that are beyond a question of doubt. 3AM is the most highly reported time that people claim to see the paranormal. Low level sound and noise frequencies can travel all the way around the earth without loosing the frequency and you could be hearing things that aren't even in the home. Our ears can not distinguish exactly where a sound is coming from.
I 'd like to see an answer from a Zoologist to this question. Not being a scientist, I can only speculate from observation. I'm not sure fish for example have different senses. They have an organ called the lateral line. It detects vibrations around them helping them find and avoid being a meal. Is that a different sense, or a biologically different way of processing information. Cats have a jacobs organ. They get information by doing an open mouthed movement resembling a yawn. Maybe birds detecting magnetic fields is a refined sense of touch or hearing. The sense of time comes from experience and an unconscious processing of information. Another one is a sense of direction. Some of us can almost always sense what direction we're driving or walking in. Put us in a dark forest and take away landmarks and it's not so good. The sensory imput to make directional observations is not there
I think our senses like everything else about us is limited by our biology. No matter how much we want to fly, we don't have wings.
Empirical implies finding results using the scientific method which involves using the defined senses of the human. Sight.taste.touch,smell.hearing. The extra senses humans present are not so easily re created for a scientific scrutiny. How can one prove they had an out of body experience? How can one prove that they seen a ghost? Or felt the presence of one? One must be able to recreate the event in order to prove to others that one thing or another is true,or valid. Brain waves are manipulated in the laboratory with predictable out comes. Changes in thought and feelings can be perceived by the subject. Brain technology is the thing that would cover the extra senses in science.
The 5 senses are an Aristotleian thing apparently.
Proprioception is usually considered the 6th sense. Circadian rhythms sense time, which isn't really a stimulus, or a form of physical energy, but a more fundamental quality.
And touch includes the sense of heat, pain, movement, and even hearing if you think about it. Intuition doesn't actually exist, any more than Spidey-Sense does!
So, it's an old convention. We certainly are sensitive to pressure. I put that under the umbrella of touch and/or hearing.
BUT, if we were sensitive to things like electricity, magnetism or others, it seems likely we would know about it, since we are cognizant, and the whole point of sense is to relay information from the outside world to our brains.