Avocenna's Theory of the Inner Senses

Avocenna thinks that we absolutely need the body if we are to activate our intellects and live the life of the mind. Drawing on some suggestions in earlier authors, he develops a novel theory of what he calls the inner senses. The basic idea is that just as we have five outer senses like vision, hearing, so we have five inner senses. These include memory and imagination, for instance. But Avocenna's most significant proposal here is the inner sense he calls wahum.