Sense

as 'transduce'

Morphological analysis

• Etymon: The word sense derives from Latin sentiō meaning 'process of causing to go'.
• Morpheme breakdown: the prefix sent-: 'sent' cognate with the PIE root: sent- meaning 'caused to go' and suffix -io a clipping of -tio meaning 'process of' → 'process of causing to go'.
• Functional cognate: transduce: 'lead across'

Essential definition

While the historical etymology of sense (Latin sentire) traces back to the idea of 'going,' its most precise functional definition in the context of biological and information-processing systems is to transduce—that is, to 'lead across' a signal from one form of energy to another.

Semantic context

• Conventional sense: Detect or perceive it through a physical faculty like sight, touch, or smell. It refers to the basic biological capacity to receive information from the environment.
• Functional meaning (my usage): I define sense in terms of transduce: 'lead across' as this definition directly describes the core function of sensing in a biological or mechanical system: the transformation of an external stimulus (light, pressure, chemical) into an internal signal (nerve impulse, electrical potential, data stream).

Philosophical significance

The usage signifies a commitment to functionalism in philosophy of mind, framing perception as a mechanistic, non-mysterious process. This approach avoids explanatory gaps by focusing on how systems operate rather than on the nature of subjective experience itself, thereby advancing a materialist and computationally-oriented account of cognition.

Usage in this lexicon

When I use the word sense in my work, I mean exactly transduce: 'lead across'. This is because all sensory receptors i.e. sensors function to transduce stimulus into response and thus all sensors are transducers.^[1]'. This definition:

• provides a precise, operational definition of the process;
• facilitates cross-disciplinary dialogue by using a term common in engineering, biology, and cognitive science;
• emphasizes the active conversion or transformation of information from one form to another;
• shifts focus from static representational content to dynamic functional processing;
• supports mechanistic explanation within a functionalist framework;
• enables clearer discussion of system function independent of specific physical implementation;
• aligns with computational and information-theoretic models of cognitive processes; and
• helps avoid homunculus problems by describing perception as a process rather than an internal experience.

Related terms

Sources

• Wiktionary

*This definition follows morphological essentialism principles. See the Methodology for details.