ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on 'sense' and the sweeping generalizations. In the case of the Renaissance keyword 'sense', we are faced with the complex situation that a cluster of interrelated meanings coalesced around the biological, cognitive and ethico-aesthetical underpinnings of human perception. Even when the senses have been rewarded with full citizenship in the domain of epistemology, as happened with the so-called British empiricists, the rehabilitation came at a high price, for the prerogatives of sense perception were then severely affected by the radical nature of Cartesian introspection. Despite a number of sceptical positions concerning the reliability of the sense of touch, the importance of tactile perception was being increasingly recognized in a number of studies on sense physiology. The notion of sense became entangled with questions related to sense perception, good sense, prudence, discernment, ingenium, consilium, consensus and decorum, to mention only the most significant correlates.
