Nutrition

We Should Not Trust Our Senses

Sensory perception refers to the human ability to observe and interpret information from the environment around us. The five human senses; touch, taste, smell, sight and sound are the tools we use for the sensation and perception processes. Without these senses, it is difficult for us to access and interpret information appropriately. Sensory perception allows people to connect with the environment and people around us. For example, the sense of smell allows us to detect and interpret different odors in our environment. If this sense is not working appropriately, we cannot interpret smell accurately. A good example for this is where one cannot tell the different fragrances in colognes since the sense of smell is not working adequately. Sensory perception play an important role in our lives as it influences how we perceive and relate to the world around us.

The five senses work to provide humans with an avenue of accessing information from the outside world and coming up with meaningful interpretation of the same. One of the main reasons that we should trust our senses is that they are a naturally developed means of interpreting the world (Christian, 2011). Therefore, questioning the accuracy of information provided by our senses is not realistic. One is born with the innate ability to sense and perceive different kinds of information. For example, a new born baby does not know what another human being looks like. However, through the sense of sight, they are able to see different figures and through perception they interpret these as human beings. In addition, proposers of the argument that we should trust our senses show that human senses warn us of impending danger. For example, when a gun shot ...

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A person’s emotional state also determines how the senses perceive the world (Christian, 2011). Emotions play a big role in determining the kind of life one lives. In fact, emotions play a role in day to day activities that one is involved in. Trusting one’s senses to give an accurate view of the world is not possible since emotions usually cloud one’s judgment. For example, when one is in a good mood, they are highly likely to hear a song and judge it as pleasant whereas they hate it when they are in a bad mood. This shows the high levels of bias involved in the interpretation of sensory data.

From the arguments presented above, it is clear that human senses are highly biased depending on one’s memory, experiences, expectations and emotional state. It is therefore very clear that we cannot trust our senses to give an accurate view of the world.