Specific Sense

Just as general sense, so also specific sense is a faculty through which the soul gains knowledge of objects through the sensory organs, situated on the periphery of the nervous system and united with its central organ, the brain. These sensory organs are touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. Humans and animals have these senses in common. Just as the human person, so also animals receive sensations of objects that fall upon them. One may ask: does what happens in the human person happen the same in animals? That is, does the notion of an object transform into thought, into idea, into knowledge? Does it stir in them what it stirs in the human person? Does it gain knowledge of them and their properties as the human person does? Does the animal also have awareness of the object, and does it strike the consciousness that it has acquired some knowledge, that it has recognized something which it previously did not know, and that it has stored some knowledge in its storehouse of knowledge, that it has become better than itself? The human person through each sensation becomes more complete, always adding new knowledge to the storehouse of his knowledge, and has awareness of his progress and development. Through the five auxiliary means of the sensory organs functioning, the human person is led to high contemplations and strengthens the faculties of the soul; the human person through the senses gains knowledge of his existence, gains awareness of his subjectivity, and thinks, he exists. Can we say the same thing about animals? Our observations on the results flowing from the senses do not permit us to say the same thing about the animal as we have said about the human person; for no sign appears testifying to the existence of similar cognitive activity; so the animal does not elevate to a rational soul the impressions that it has; we shall demonstrate this truth by investigating the results of sensations from each sense.