How many senses do we have?

[tigerthecat]

How many senses do we have?

[boobesque]

well lets see. there is touch, taste, hearing, smell and sight. i dont think that common sense counts but who am i to judge?

[VINNY100_2]

If you watched QI the other night they reckon its about...21...strange but true(:)

[loudickson71]

6 definitely. Probably 7 or 8.

sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing, proprioception.

Plus: vestibular system (balance)

Plus: sense of direction mediated by earth's magnetic field.

[fo3nix]

originally there were 5 (the ones boobesque mentions), but this was conceived around the same time that they thought everything was made of the 4 elements (earth, wind, fire, water).

there are in fact many more senses. see
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question242.htm

[loudickson71]

they only list the ones I mentioned, plus confuse exaptations of the basic 5 with 'new senses', which they are not.

[mibn2cweus]

The five aforementioned are the only known to enable direct perception of ourselves and the physical world.

[mibn2cweus]

Proprioception should probably be designated as a distinct sense since, although it falls within the category of feeling, it is not the same as touch which is generally regarded as a distinct sense.
I am not aware of magnetic sensory organs in humans, but some animals (birds) apparently possess this sense and since it performs such a unique function it could be considered a distinct sense.

[Hamish]

I think that many of the 'new ones' can be simplfide into special cases of the basic 5.

[loudickson71]

The temptation is always there, but it is simply not correct. The vestibular system happens to use part of the ear's machinery, but it is simply not hearing in any sense of the word. Proprioception is analogous to the touch system, but it is definitely not touch. It uses sets of sensors in tendons and the musculo-skeletal system that touch makes no use of. The magnetic-field sense (there is good experimental evidence that 'blinded' people can find their way around much better than chance would predict) may make use of the eyes, but in no way could be called sight, it does not use photons nor the optic nerve.
Crucially, all of these new senses are supported and interpreted by underlying brain modules that are different from those on which they are supposedly 'based'. Some people have perfectly intact touch sense systems and yet have damaged proprioceptive systems, and simply fall to the floor when the lights go out.

[bymis]

6 there are 6
the 5 basic one which incorparte the 24 or so that can be listed on that link

"The 6th Sense" is where you can tell your being looked at, it is beleived that it one was more than that. ie you would be able to tell whats around you,