If you had NONE of the 5 senses, would you be ALIVE?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the philosophical and conceptual implications of being alive without any of the five senses. Participants consider the nature of perception, thought, and consciousness in the absence of sensory input, touching on related topics such as language development and the concept of telepathy.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that without any senses, a person would lack the ability to develop thought or language, as these require mental symbols formed through perception.
  • Others argue that being born without senses would likely involve significant defects, making survival and prolonged life improbable.
  • A participant mentions that people born deaf experience challenges in thinking and language until they learn sign language, suggesting that sensory input is crucial for consciousness.
  • One participant questions whether telepathy could be considered a sixth sense, leading to a debate about the classification of senses.
  • Another viewpoint suggests that all senses are interconnected and that without any sensory input, a person would be in a state akin to being brain dead.
  • A participant expresses a desire to amend a previous statement about the relationship between language and thought, indicating ongoing reflection and revision of ideas.
  • There is a suggestion that the topic might be better suited for a biology forum, indicating differing opinions on the appropriate context for the discussion.
  • One participant challenges the conventional understanding of senses, proposing that the experience of thought itself could be considered a form of feeling.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express multiple competing views on the implications of lacking senses, with no consensus on the nature of consciousness or the classification of senses. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the fundamental questions posed.

Contextual Notes

Some claims rely on assumptions about the relationship between sensory perception and cognitive development, and there are unresolved questions about the definitions of senses and consciousness.

timejim
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Yes, you could be but would you know it? I mean, if you were born without any senses, how would you develop thought without having learned a language? What a predicament. Has this ever happened before, where a baby was born without any of its senses?
 
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Perception is reality. You would be alive in our world, hence the reason you ak if a baby has been BORN like this ;), but if you had none of the senses, you would have no way of experiencing anything. You couldn't smell, you couldn't control your body as you don't know what is going on, you can't feel hunger, pain, etc.

Fact is, to be born like this, you'd have to have so many defects, I would imagine a live birth would a low probability, and if so, anymore than a very short life would be a miracle.
 
Originally posted by timejim
I mean, if you were born without any senses, how would you develop thought without having learned a language?
You couldn't. The basis of language is having mental symbols for things and actions so that you can think about them when they aren't right there in front of you. With no ability to percieve anything in the first place, there would be no ability to form symbols, and following from that, no thought.

Although they are able to percieve in many ways, people born deaf are rather in this position vis a vis thinking and language, until such time as they learn a sign language. Oliver Sack's remarkable book Seeing Voices gives a fantastic insight into the problems created when a person has just one sense less, never mind having no sences. The mere ability to name things, refer to them, comment on them when they aren't right there in front of you, comes as a revelation to a deaf person learning sign if they weren't raised with it.

So, without any sences there would be no consciousness.
 
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Is telepathy a sixth sense?
 
Hummm 5 senses ? all wired into one Brain, that functions exactly the same way as the informational transfers that are neurally generated, how would you separate any of the "senses" separate from the identical neuronal operation that transmits, simply, different information (Hot as opposed to pressure/touch) without the deletion of the sense, resulting in what is simply a Brain dead condition...hence no 'sense' (point is, there is only one 'sense', we feel, that's all, that's it)

So from there, yes, brain dead humans can be kept alive, and can (some) survive on there own (sans machinery) living systems, but vegetable is more the word that would come to mind, plus immobile(?) as no inputs (outputs too?) to function muscles properly...
 
Originally posted by Loren Booda
Is telepathy a sixth sense?
No. If it exists the soonest we can fit it in on the list is about # 8. #6 must be sense of balance. and #7 must be proprioception.
 
Originally posted by Loren Booda
Is telepathy a sixth sense?
No, actually "root 'one' sense"
 
I would like to change what I said above:

"The basis of language is having mental symbols for things and actions so that you can think about them when they aren't right there in front of you."

to read:

"The basis of thought is having mental symbols for things and actions (language) so you can think about them when they aren't right there in front of you.
 
Originally posted by zoobyshoe
I would like to change what I said above:
"The basis of language is having mental symbols for things and actions so that you can think about them when they aren't right there in front of you."
to read:
"The basis of thought is having mental symbols for things and actions (language) so you can think about them when they aren't right there in front of you.
Nope! Sorry Zoob, no post post changes allowed, you stand as you wrote it the original way and we are all not going to hold that against you!
 
  • #10
You'd get a better response if you posted this in biology.
 
  • #11
Nah! simple reality, you are distracted into thinking you have five senses, when in fact all you can really do is "feel", it's in "quotes" cause you need to realize that those "feelings" include your thought/thinking process, hence the reality of someone experiancing something as simple as a 'new concept' ends up telling of a "light bulb" experiance, then, (rather self deceptively) thinking it is "enlightenment" rather then simply The learning process...
 

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