If a person were born devoid of their five senses, would they be aware of their existence?

Question

We HAVE to assume that this person could remain alive.

Answer 1

I don't think they would be aware of their existence or that they would think. They wouldn't have anything to think about.

Answer 2

Without the five senses, a person would still have the sense of balance, knowing when he, or she was rightside up, upside down, or sideways. This would ensure that such a person was aware of their existence, at least to a degree similar to the self-awareness of an embryo inside it's mothers womb.

They might try doing flips by thrashing around, and such to see what happened, but without the sense of touch, they would not know when they were hurting themselves, they would not know which limbs they were moving, and they also would not be able to effectively eat.

For such a person to stay alive, they would need either...
1: to be strapped down, and fed via a feeding tube... OR
2: To have some ESP abilities.
Since whether or not ESP abilities exist is another question, and even if it exits, it is probably rare, I'll assume that this person would be living through the medical assistance of option 1.

Not a lot of excitement. Lab animals who have had their senses, and are then deprived of all of their senses tend to die after a few weeks. Whether this is due to the lack of senses, or due to the methods used to deprive them of their senses remains an open question.

Answer 3

The only sense I can't get my head around is not having the sense of touch (feeling) when it comes to breathing. If they're feeling their breath coming into their lungs, or feeling their heartbeat in the absence of all other physical sensations...this would be enough to be aware of their existence, although it would be very different than ours. Actually, I think this is what I'm trying to accomplish (temporarily, of course) with meditation. *smile*

Answer 4

hmm....i think to answer this we have to think about what makes a person aware of their existence; the ability to learn, to feel, and to think.. (these characteristics could be desputed though, other things may lend itself to the self realization of one's existence, these examples are just the things that came to my mind.) if a person was devoid of the senses, how could they learn and feel emotions? however, they would still have the ability to think, as well as perform the functions necessary to maintain life, therefore i think they would know that they existed.

Answer 5

Hmmm.... be interesting to hear how you shut down "touch".

Well we do know of a case where 2 of the 5 were knocked out.

My thought would be, yeah, they would still be aware of their existance.

My second thought would be, you just defined Hell.

Answer 6

How nice to hear from a Tralfamadorian! How are Billy Pilgrim and Montana Wildhack?

Answer 7

Physical conception on Earth is only ONE of a multitude of possible forms of existence, so...

YES...

beings are aware that they exist wherever they are, regardless of physical tangency. Whether they'd know they were on THIS plane, who knows?

Answer 8

I don't think they'd be able to cognize anything. I mean would they feel their heart beat? Our perception is so engendered by motor skills and touch.. If they could feel their heartbeat they might be able to know time, but I'm not sure.

Answer 9

yes. just because u dont have senses doesnt mean you cant think. the question is does he know other people exist?
P.S.
rocks dont have thoughts
the ps is for the first guy

Answer 10

depends on which is left. if the brain is dead then i would say no.
1.sight we can live with out sight
2. hearing we can live with out hearing
3 tast it would be dull but you can live with out this also
4 touch again this would be hard but you can live with out it
5. smell is no bigy
6 thought. with out thought then the mind doesnt know any thing.
the other 5 can be over come as long as you have thought.