The Five Senses The Five Senses – Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, and Touch - can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy, especially to Aristotle, who ordered them into a hierarchy. Sight and Hearing, designated as of most use to the soul and mind of man, were at the top while those associated with bodily preservation, namely Taste and Touch, were located at the bottom. Smell could belong to either part of the hierarchy, depending on the context. The artist and printmaker, Abraham Bosse, etched a series of The Five Senses, imagined as scenes of everyday life of the wealthy in seventeenth-century France.