Mini TOK Essay

Senses are a key factor to find or to get closer to what truth is. This is always depending on what both words mean. But what is really the definition for senses and truth? Taking into consideration what a dictionary says about them, the following extracts will be found.  “Any of the faculties, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body.” is the definition for senses. On the other hand, the definition for truth is, “an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.” By taking all that into consideration, it is possible to say that because senses are something that we control, they will always give us the truth that we believe is true. Without senses humans are enable to know what truth is.

For example, when you smell a flower with your eyes closed you know that is probably a flower. This occurs because of past experiences in which the smell was taking while the flower was seen. At the end, by smelling a specific sent an image that is correlated with that sent will come into mind, showing the person that the object in front is a flower.  Feelings on the other hand are difficult to interpret, but depending on the situations you know that you feel a certain way for someone depending on how your body reacts when you think/see or are with that person. All this happens because these kinds of things are something that is occurring inside or senses and minds. Because the come from us, we know perfectly what they mean and for that reason we accept what those senses are telling us, showing at the end truth.

            Even though the statement is shown to be reliable, counterarguments are also found. Such is the case of the following example; sometimes some things are so cold or hot that they seem to be completely the opposite. Another counterargument following the example mentioned above, it might be the case that the object in front that is been smelt is not a flower, but more likely to be a perfume with the same properties as the flower. In such a case the senses wouldn’t be lying, instead they would be giving us a bad impression of something, misleading us, and make us think that what was smell was a flower, instead of a perfume.

            At the end, senses will never lie to us, but they will be trapped, and by occurring so we will be mislead from the truth. Therefore depending on the situation and how many senses are been used for approaching to a specific truth, a truth can or cannot be aquired by using the senses.