Do you think that there may be senses which do not necessarily receive information only from the environment, but rather from within us as well?



Do you think that there may be senses which do not necessarily receive information only from the environment, but rather from within us as well? (For example, how do you sense that you are hungry? If you hold your breath, which sense 'senses' that you need air? How do you sense the need for belonging?) 
- Why? Do you think that the definition of sensation needs to be expanded?
a) We can expand the concept of conventional 5 main broad senses to a wide range of senses after close inspection and by giving it a deeper thought. The example highlighted in the discussion forum question about feelings of hunger is linked with digestive system, the cravings or hunger pans are due to stomach (a muscular bag) contractions and the subsequent activity in the pituitary gland releasing the appropriate hormones. All bodily systems are wined up together and all activities themselves give rise to new senses. The sense of emotion, getting those goose bumps or feeling sympathy upon recalling any tragic disaster and any calamity that culminates into a sudden sad feeling, that engulfs you, so this could be our emotional sense. 
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory gives rise to many senses I guess, our sense of evaluating our self-esteem and witnessing changes in it could also be called a sense if we take the leverage of the notion of sense shared in the question.
Kinesthetic sense which is the ability to maintain our balance, posture, relate our motion with other surrounding bodies and acceleration.
Pain which is linked to the sense of touch is also a distinct mechanism by which we avoid experiences and touching objects which give us discomfort.
I read in my secondary biology book that if you stay inside a garage with a car releasing loads of carbon-monoxide, and without any ventilation, we could become unconscious in a matter of 10 minutes, so this ability to feel suffocated in certain environments could come under the realm of sense. The pressure felt when our urinary bladders are full is also a sense that might be similar to what pressure receptors in the extremities of our bodies experience.

We must have a sense of time as after reading this week's content, the REM cycle taking 90 minutes and the change to non-REM cycle, then menstrual cycle in women and our depression levels associated with times of the day suggests that our brain must have some measure of time and is aware regarding it. 
There are thermoreceptors in our body that gives our hypothalamus clues about surrounding temperature and then body responds if lets assume the temperature is hot in the environment then body internally will try it's best to maintain body temperature by perspiration, widening the lumen of blood vessels. The sense of temperature and our internal responses pertains to idea of a sense.

I think I have this profound sense to challenge my preconceived notions and asses the claims on multitude of issues which surround a human life, the sense in me which seeks for answers regarding various interesting mind-boggling mysteries and phenomenons of our lives and the questions related to the vast cosmos around us and comparatively a tiny speck of dust which is our Earth that we inhabit. Probably, thinking rationally, logically and having this knack of not taking stereotypes, dogmatic thinking and untested cultural practices, norms, traditions, customs, beliefs, scripted religions come under a sense because I see few people in my community ready to think in this fashion. Not all people are concerned with these issues and they just live their lives in a simplistic complying with rules around sort of mindset and I having this flexibility, open-mindedness to new ideas and challenge the notions around could come under a sense which seeks for clarification and craves for answers. 

b) I think the definition of sense needs to be revisited and revamped as pondering more on the subject reveals that we have whole lot of senses working on us for our survival and which give meaning and perception of ourselves. We need to classify senses from those broad very much evident 5 tradition ones and other less apparent ones. 
Probably those unconventional senses like sense of belonging, emotion, sense of impending fear, chemicals sense and so forth can't fit the rigid definition which constitutes having easily observable receptor cells and the subsequent physical response generated by the work of brain that interprets on those stimuli. We are not able to figure out yet the receptors for love, feeling empty or demotivated, self-esteem sense, motivation level, sense of hunger, congestion, suffocation and the list goes on. Perhaps, breaking from the typical criteria for defining a sense and widening the parameters and having this broader perspective to sense could change the dominant scientific community approach towards this matter. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dissecting PM Imran Khan's Inaugural Public Address

The Golden Era of Muslim Science and the subsequent decline – Rvel Zahid