ARISTOTLE GOT IT WRONG: WE HAVE A LOT MORE THAN FIVE SENSES

Unthinkable: Philosophers need to grapple with the ‘symphony of senses’ being discovered by science

By: Joe Humphreys

Published: The Irish Times, May 16 2017, https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/aristotle-got-it-wrong-we-have-a-lot-more-than-five-senses-1.3079639

Thanks are due to Oya Özağaç who found this text and forwarded it to me

Level of difficulty: ** (This is an easy level two; to be frank, it is between the two levels)

BEFORE YOU READ

·         Molyneux's Question - Can It Be Solved?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TdFAHtqPbs

·         Barry Smith: We have far more than five senses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWdfpwCghIw

QUESTIONS

1.   Barry Smith says “That was a good question.” Why does he say this?

2.   How does the writer reach the conclusion that armchair philosophers are taking a simplistic view of the question? By…

3.   The story of the wine proves that one sense / two senses / more than one sense / many senses may be involved in the way we perceive objects or substances. Mark as many as necessary.

4.   Aristotle is given as an example of a philosopher …

5.   Stand up and extend your arms forward. Now lift first one foot then the other rapidly. Now try it with your eyes closed. Is there a problem? Why?

6.   You are asked to help with a large suitcase. You go over prepared to lift it but it turns out to be empty and very light. Why might you lose your balance? Your ….. has been misdirected.

7.   What conclusion can we draw from the examples in the text and the ones in questions 5 and 6?

8.   Consider the example of the aircraft. If the experience were a purely visual one,…

9.   It is a mistake to base perception on vision because whereas with other senses you don’t…., with vision you do.

 10.We understand from the example of the cup that both…and …are necessary to correctly perceive the cup.

11. What general conclusion can we draw from the text about how our perceptual system works?

12. Barry Smith differs from other philosophers in that he believes that…..can be helpful to philosophy rather than a hindrance. As such it should / it shouldn’t be disregarded.

WRITING TASK

Write an essay or a paragraph discussing the reasons why we should accept that we have more than five senses.

ARISTOTLE GOT IT WRONG: WE HAVE A LOT MORE THAN FIVE SENSES; KEY AND TEACHERS’ NOTES

This wonderful text addresses an age old philosophical problem yet it is written in a very straightforward and relatively simple way unlike most philosophy texts. As such, it can be tackled by adult learners who really want to get their teeth into a complex issue.

1.   Because it forces people to rethink their assumptions about perception

2.   By assuming that perception is merely sight

3.   More than one sense, many senses

4.   Who started from the wrong construction of the phenomena, then produced a very clever piece of philosophy which was worthless because it was not actually getting to grips with how things really were.”

5.   Yes there is. Your sense of balance has gone wrong

6.   Sense of effort

7.   There is a symphony of senses, and they are often so well-orchestrated with each other that we don’t notice their operation.

8.   The front of the plane would not seem higher

9.   A permanent visual scene

10. Visual and tactile information

11. The senses take multiple sources of information and then sum up what’s going on out there.”

12. Science, it shouldn’t be