Such ranking plays a basic role in determining which sensory impressions will be deemed most important by a society and which will be filtered out or ignored. For example, in premodern Europe, speech as a supposedly natural faculty was sometimes counted as a sixth sense.Īlong with being enumerated, the senses are also ranked according to cultural traditions and values. While the senses are generally counted as five-sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch-their number has risen or fallen at different times according to the interests of the day. The very number of the senses is dictated to some extent by custom.
This social dimension of perception makes the senses subject to historical change and thus to historical study.Ĭulture shapes senses in many ways. Just as social norms influence how people dress and what they eat, social norms influence how and what people see, touch, or smell. Perception is, in fact, profoundly affected by cultural practices and ideologies. The senses are not simply biological in nature, they are also shaped by culture. Constance Classen HISTORICIZING THE SENSES
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