SENSE PERCEPTION

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Long before we learned how to use language, reason, or emotions to further our knowledge, we used our senses. As toddlers we used our sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing to make sense of our surroundings. The evolution of knowledge is mostly because of sense perception. The most primitive versions of ourselves, for example the cavemen, heavily survived off of sense perception alone. They knew by their senses that certain plants, animals, weather, etc. separated life and death. Now scientists and inventors continuously extend off their knowledge with the use of observations with their five senses just as Edward Hubble said:
“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure
Science”. !

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In order to study and understand the extent of sense perception as a reliable source of knowledge we must question what it is. There is a debate going on in the philosophical community on what are senses actually are. In our early stages of development we were taught that we have five senses: the visual sense (sight), the auditory sense (hearing), the olfactory sense (smell), the gustatory sense (taste), and the cutaneous sense (touch). If our senses are purely the means by which our body receives external stimuli to be interpreted by our brains, then this list is essentially complete. But if we define the sense as the means by which our body communicates to the mind with both external and internal stimuli, then there should be at least three more senses added to the list: the kinesthetic sense (awareness of one’s own body movements and dimensions), the vestibular sense (balance), and the organize sense (hunger, thirst, etc.). Also if we were to extend the idea of sense perception to animals then we would have to include the extra senses that animals such as bats (sonar) and chameleons (the ability to see in two different directions at the same time) have. !

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The process as to which our senses actually communicate with the brain is very complicated and because of our uncertainty regarding this process, there is a debate as to how reliable our senses actually are. Also compared to some of the senses of animals, ours seem very limited. Our eyes, for example, are not capable of seeing objects from long distances because the image that is projected onto our retina is tiny and upside down and the retina is pretty much color blind. In conclusion, the optical abilities of human beings are actually very poor compared to other animals. So how do we see with absolute certainty? Knowing this, how can we trust our eyes? !

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Another thing to consider is what is lost or added in translation between the senses and the brain? There is that idea that no two people see, taste, hear, smell, and feel the same thing.
So how can we compare our observations if we all have slightly different experiences?
Additionally, each person has their own experiences that are associated with certain emotions.
Sometimes those emotions can cloud our senses making them an unreliable source of knowledge. How one perceives something is completely different then how another person perceives the same thing. For example, the boy in the picture above may perceive his burger as tasting good, smelling delicious, and looking extremely appetizing. However, someone else may find the burger as smelling revolting, tasting horrendous, and looking only adequate. !

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Knowing and understanding this, is sense perception a reliable source of information? Is it a reliable way of knowing? As Rene Descartes once said “The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once”. !