Human beings understand the world through their different senses, and although perception seems like a single, coherent sensory experience, truth is not, it is a harmony between a lot of distinct senses and composite.

It is widely known that humans have only 5 senses: smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight, and some add a sixth sense of intuition, but is that really true? And why is it said that man has only 5 senses? Who chose these senses? When and on what basis? Why has the idea been popularized as a scientific reality? Are there recent scientific theories questioning this idea? And what did you rely on? Are there senses that humans do not need and can be dispensed with?

Aristotle first created the idea of five senses:

The Greek philosopher Aristotle is one of the most influential thinkers in history, a student of Plato and Alexander the Great, whose philosophy has had a unique impact on almost every form of knowledge, and remains the subject of contemporary philosophical and scientific debate to this day.

Aristotle was the first to create the idea of the five senses in his famous book "About the Soul" (De Anima), from his observations on humans and the way they behave and deal with the world and the universe around them.

The notion of Aristotle's five senses has been viewed as a reality given for a long period of time even to a large number of intellectuals and learners around the world, according to BBC.

But modern science questions this, with many scientific studies and research confirming that humans possess far more of Aristotle's five senses, and some scientists argue that humans use 22 to 33 different senses in their daily lives as stated in a report by the World Economic Forum (weforum).

The scientist Ashley Ward stated in his book "Sensational" that humans use 53 senses in their lives, according to The Guardian, the British newspaper, which dealt with the most important part of the book in a recent report.

What are these other senses that Aristotle does not mention and that human beings depend on every day for their lives, living and dealing with the environment around them? Here we mention the highlights of these senses as mentioned in the above and other platforms and sites.

Equilibrioception:

It's one of the most important senses we need every second of our daily lives, it keeps us upright, helps us make our way without falling or getting hurt even if we're walking on one foot.

A deep sense of our bodies (Proprioception):

This sense is about knowing the location of any part of our body without using the sense of view, which is how we can write without looking at the keyboard. We know the location of the letters and feel them deep down, so we write very quickly, and we can imagine how much time we need to write a short message from a few words if we need to use our eyes to scrutinize the location of each letter.

Kinesthesis:

It is the perception of body movements, and includes the ability to detect changes in body position and movements, and we use this sense unconsciously when we carry out physical activity, such as walking, running, driving, dancing, swimming or anything else that requires body movement.

Thermoception:

We know if our environment is too cold or too hot through this sense, as the ability to sense the temperature around us helps keep us alive and healthy.

Sensation of Pain (Nociception):

The ability of humans to feel pain, not only physically but psychologically, is a means of feedback that allows the central nervous system "CNN" (CNS) to detect and avoid harmful stimuli that may harm humans.

Chronoception:

It is a sense of how time passes and speeds, sometimes we feel that time passes too fast when we are happy, and quite the opposite when we are unhappy.

Senses that humans don't have:

The foregoing are some of the senses that we mentioned, but not limited to, that we use daily and continuously in our lives, and that are not the five known senses that Aristotle mentioned in his famous book, but are there other senses that we don't need and that exist in other beings and animals and that don't exist in us?

Answer: Yes, as stated by the World Economic Forum in its aforementioned report, here are some of these senses that we do not have:

Electroception:

It's the ability to feel the electric spheres around us, this sense doesn't exist in humans, but it does exist in some species of aquatic animals, such as shark that can detect the electrical spheres of their environment, including those that emit prey that they can't necessarily see.

Magnetoreception:

Many mammals such as bats can sense the magnetic field of their surroundings and use it for mobility.

Polarized light:

Polarized light consists of vibration waves at only one angle, and many animals - including insects and birds - use polarized light to determine which direction to take.

Finally, BBC considers that, regardless of how you look at it, the number 5 is a "very arbitrary" and meaningless number, one of the "myths" that many humans have believed for long periods of history, just like the myth that humans use only 10% of their brain's abilities.

In fact, once you start thinking about all kinds of different information that reaches the human brain, you may find that you are developing a whole new sense that you never knew before.