PART 1

1. Yes I think that there may be senses which do not necessarily receive information only
from the environment, but rather from within us as well such as the sense of thirst, the
sense of sleep, the sense of balance amongst others.

2. I think the dominant scientific community may not have considered more than the typical
5 senses because “Some things that we might refer to as “senses”, such as the sense of
direction for instance, are defined by neurologists as post-sensory cognitive activities and
don’t count in this definition” (Francis, 2020). I think they are gradually beginning to
consider some of the other senses now such as the Eco-psychologist Michael J Cohen
who puts the number of human senses at 53 after having broken them down into 4 major
categories namely the radiation senses, the feeling senses, the chemical senses and the
mental senses.

3. Definitions help us in knowing the parameters of a concept because they are to be tested
against potential counterexamples that are identified via thought experiments, this is
known as conceptual analyses. "Conversely, if the definitions aren’t there to be
discovered, this would seem to put in jeopardy a venerable view of what philosophy is
and how philosophical investigations ought to proceed"(Margolis & Laurence, 2019).
"Sensation, in neurology and psychology, any concrete, conscious experience resulting
from stimulation of a specific sense organ, sensory nerve, or sensory area in the brain"
(The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.).
I think that the definition of sensation needs to be expanded to breakdown further if it is
mental or physical as well as explain how other sensory organs such as that responsible
for thirst, hunger, sleep, and balance as the source of sensation are not always external
but also internal or intra-organic.

PART 2

Since operant conditioning encourages positive reinforcements, we can apply that positively to
the development of our reading skills in a number of ways such as praise after completing the
unit exercise and passing them which will in turn make the student happy with himself and in
turn make him strive to read more and pass more unit exercises. Another operant conditioning
that has worked for my daughter over time is the promise of letting her watch any cartoon of her
choice once she satisfactorily completes her reading assignment.
 These skills become stronger over time as they become automatically conditioned to read and
study more on their own because it would have become a habit.

I believe many of our skills follow the same part of development and this can be seen in the case
of a soccer player who trains daily to make the first team and even after her has made the team,
he strives even more to remain in the first team so as not to get replaced in the team. This is
because he has been conditioned that way and there is always going to be a positive
reinforcement the first team startup jersey.

Reference

Francis, C. (2020, October 15). How many senses do we have. Sensory Trust.
https://www.sensorytrust.org.uk/blog/how-many-senses-do-we-have

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Sensation | neurology and psychology.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved July 8, 2021, from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sensation

Margolis, E., & Laurence, S. (2019, June 17). Concepts (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/concepts/