An Examination of the Multitude of Senses Humans Have Beside the Basic Five Defined by Aristotle

In a rather astute video essay, a Vox News reporter examines and somewhat debunks the common practice of teaching children that they only have five senses as defined by Aristotle, when there are a number of other senses that help humans process equilibrioception (balance), mechanoreception (vibration), thermoception (temperature) and proprioception (body movement), amongst many, many others.

Listing just five senses means we’re leaving out a lot of things that actually keep us alive and functioning on a daily basis…So this begs the question, is teaching five senses really the best way? …When we’re young learning these five senses is a really simple way to make sense of the world around us. These senses are often based on external stimuli and because we have visible organs linked them – they’re easy to test in a classroom.