if a tree falls in a forest and theres no one around to hear it.. will it make sound?
Re: tree falling..
Yes.
Re: tree falling..
WELL......lets try it ...ill be back:D
Re: tree falling..
yea...if u tlk and there no 1 there to hear u..doesn't mean u wont make a sound.
Re: tree falling..
صح
Re: tree falling..
Are you deriving something from the Schrodinger's cat analogy?
Re: tree falling..
im not sure about what it is WitchDr. I just read this question in a book called " philosophy for dummies" and this question was in a chapter of top 10 philosophy question.....and I find this question very interesting..
its very easy to say that it will make a sound but no one will hear it.. well .....if no one will hear it how can we assume it will really make sound? is sound just hear-dependent???
Re: tree falling..
I believe the answer lies in the definition of sound. Sound is our mind's interpretation of the compressed air waves that reach our ears. When the tree falls, it doesnt create a sound, it only creates compressed air waves. The "sound" is a result of those waves banging against our ear drums and what our mind makes of those bangings.
Consider some of these other scenarios:
1. If the tree falls in a vacuum and someone is standing there, will there be a sound? There will be no waves created since there is no air. Since no waves reach our ears and mind, there will be no sound in our mind. (Air Waves: NO; Sound in head: NO)
2. If the tree falls and there is a deaf person standing there, will there be a sound? The falling tree will create waves in the air however the deaf person's mind does not recognize those waves hence theres no sound in his head. (Air Waves: YES; Sound in head: NO)
3. When you blow a dog whistle, is there a sound? The dog whistle blows at a frequency which is out of the range of human hearing. It is however within the range of frequencies audible by animals. The air waves created by the dog whistle are easily recognizable by an animal's mind, however they do not register in a human mind. (Air Waves: YES; Sound in animal's mind: YES; Sound in human mind: NO)
So, to answer your question. When a tree falls and theres no one there, is there a sound? I believe the answer is NO. Since there is no living soul with a mind (human or animal or supernatural) there to recieve those air waves, those air waves never get a chance to be interpreted as sound in someone's head.
Re: tree falling..
...or if a tree does not fall in a forest and there is no one around.. will there be silence?
Re: tree falling..
if a tree falls and theres no one around to hear it...then who the hell cares!
Re: tree falling..
interesting! its a part of a very old discussion about existance of God. The concept is that if you didn't see an event happening, did it really happen?
[QUOTE]
its very easy to say that it will make a sound but no one will hear it.. well .....if no one will hear it how can we assume it will really make sound? is sound just hear-dependent???
[/QUOTE]
it all goes to what one WANTS to believe. :-) If one chooses to be ignorant of reality then he will say NO. any EVENT doesn't need a witness to prove its existance.
Re: tree falling..
but you can hear yourself ..cant you?:halo:
Re: tree falling..
it all goes to what one WANTS to believe. :-) If one chooses to be ignorant of reality then he will say NO. any EVENT doesn't need a witness to prove its existance.
how would you then be certain if that event really did take place?
Re: tree falling..
by common intellect. :-) lets put it tis way. It's a stormy night and you are in a jungle, all alone and no one around for hundrad miles, and a light bolt stricks you. Now is it intelligent to assume that no harm is done to you, on the bases that no one SAW/HEARD light bolt stricking you?
Re: tree falling..
alright this is an event that u witnessed it.. so going back to the same question… if a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one around TO WITNESS it … will it make a sound??
in your scenerio , you knew that the light bolt stricked you… but in the case of tree , no one witnessed it falling …so ..will it make sound?
Re: tree falling..
care to explain how both OBJECTS are different?
I have this feeling that this discussion is going towards an unresolved question in ontology i.e. whether material things exist objectively (mind-independently) or only subjectively (dependent on a mind or minds). what you want to ask is wether sound is OBJECTIVE or SUNBJECTIVE.
Re: tree falling..
brother, it was just one of the question raised by a student in my philosophy class and i really got interested in that so i posted it up here... I was in no intention of challenging your intelligence.
Re: tree falling..
let us assume nothing else is happening at that place, then the other way round , if there was no noise it wouldn’t had fallen , becaz the consequence of the waves would change only when they are compressed . so they were compressed .
this will be proved in later years by some scientist ( i hope so) 
Re: tree falling..
yes there will be a sound....
'no one saw it' or 'no one heard it' does not equate to 'it never happened'....