What if a tree falls in the forest

Locke related primary, or objective, qualities to movement, adhesion of particles impermeability, density, volume, et cetera. In turn, the secondary, or subjective, qualities were assigned to color, smell, taste, and sound.

All the properties that are not amenable to the explanation from were declared Locke secondary. The allocation of subjective qualities was also based on a mixture of the objective existence of qualities with the form of their reflection in consciousness Thiel A lack of understanding of the special role of thinking in the display of the qualities of things also shaped the mentioned ideas.

In terms of the theory of primary and secondary qualities, if a tree can exist outside the framework of perception, then a person is not able to know if it is a tree. In this connection, it is critical to identify the notion of existence seems to understand the difference between reality and how people perceive it. If an object is beyond the boundaries of how one perceives it, the reasoning from a position of common sense seems to be relevant.

While there are waves of sound, one cannot hear them. Accordingly, this very mechanical sound cannot exist if a person is not able to perceive it. It is appropriate to discuss the difference described by Locke regarding the primary and secondary qualities of the object in detail.

This metamorphosis indicates the qualities the objects possess initially, axiomatically, and which are attributed to them by people Tittle For example, something blue or red is not actually blue or red, the bitter is not bitter, and the sound is not something that somehow sounds. However, as viewed by Locke, a sound always remains as such: an object that for some reason one does not see, hear, or perceive may exist independently. Moreover, a person is not capable of perceiving everything, and the reality surrounding him or her is full of undiscovered issues.

The difference between perception and reality is the fundamental aspect of the theory developed by Locke. It is possible to wonder: if a tree exists beyond perception within the framework of common sense , will it create sound waves? One can assume that these sound waves will not be heard. Sound, in its mechanical sense, will appear, but it will not be perceptible to the human ear.

Or did I? Of course the falling tree makes a sound, whether it is 'heard,' or not! The ear, does NOT create sound, it is only able to transmit sound; the eardrum reacts to the sounds around it, that are of sufficient strength to cause it to vibrate; the ear does NOT vibrate to cause the sound of the tree falling, quite obviously.

Put on a good pair of earmuffs, and then snap a piece of wood, or smash a plate, whatever you want, and ask yourself, would you have heard it if it hadn't been for the earmuffs? The sound waves were formed, but prevented from activating your eardrum, by the earmuffs, but nevertheless, be honest with yourself, you know the sound waves were created, and you know you would have heard them if it hadn't been for the earmuffs.

If you have broken a piece of wood in your hands, you would have felt the shock-wave that creates the sound, within your very hands. Look at that aeroplane flying above you at 14, feet, you cannot hear it, for the sound waves dissipate before they reach your eardrum, yet you know jet engines make huge amounts of noise when they work, and if they were not working, and therefore making noise, then the aeroplane would not be flying - you know all these things!

You may not be able to hear the aeroplane because of the distance between yourself and it, but you know the sound is there, you know it is being made, completely independently of your hearing. Sound does not depend upon you hearing it, you hearing sound, depends upon your proximity to the source of the sound, the cause. Your ear does not create sound, your ear reacts to sound, to conduct it to your brain, and make you aware of its presence. Does the falling tree make noise, yes, every time.

David, Devon Yes it does make a sound. But my old teachers told me it didn't. Samuel, Christchurch New Zealand When the tree falls in the forest, sound waves are generated that impinge on your eardrum if you are there. The sound waves are processed by your cochleas and neuronal signals are transmitted to your auditory cortex. The action potentials from the nerves from your cochleas act on the auditory cortex to produce the perception of sound.

Therefore the sound is the response of the neurons in your auditory cortex. Any creature that has the perception of sound will hear the sound of the crash. There is no sound in the sound waves themselves.

The sound is produced by the action potentials and synapses and only registers as sound if the action potentials reach the auditory cortex. The same situation exists for all our senses. Our entire perception of the world we live in comes to us through the action potentials in the nerves that reach the cortex in our brains. You never actually see the world first hand but only through the interpretation of the action potentials and synapses in the neurons in the cortex that come from the nerves from our senses.

You register the result as your perception of the world that we live in. The confusion results when people assume that the sound waves are the sound. There is no ear involved therefore "sound" does not exist.

Scientifically, the answer would be yes. Just because there is no one in the forest to hear the sound does not mean that the sound did not take place. If once places a tape recorder in the forest, then later plays the recording after a tree fell, then we know that the sound occurred. Another way to address this would be to consider a blind person standing outside. The blind person does not see any light, so does that mean that there is not daylight? Does one have to be sighted for there to be light?

Light is a form of radiation. It is visible to most people, but not to everyone. So if no one is in a vacant area of Siberia during daytime, does that mean that light never occurred in that area of Siberia? Recently, the Pioneer spacecraft recorded the sound of interstellar space. No one ever heard this before. So does this mean that the sound of interstellar space only occurred for the first time in , or has it been there all along and only now do we have the technology to hear it?

The latter is correct. As for the philosophical part of the question, this is best left to the Aristotle's of our time. Everything is a figment of your imagination if you don't see it or hear it, then it does not exist in your reality Tyler Goble, Annapolis, US From a purely selfish point of view nothing exists unless I am there to observe it. That's what gives me life! Phil Davis, Cheltenham UK Many people do not see an issue with the question; I think this is due to the kind of minds these people have.

In simple terms, we can say then, that a sound is made whether or not it is heard. See the human senses and sensory memory for more details. Yes, according to physics, a tree makes a sound when it falls.

However we frame the question, from a physical or psychological standpoint, we can definitively answer it in the affirmative. The question is meant to be philosophical , and still works in this respect. The concept is a valid question; how can we know something is real unless we can perceive it? What is Sound? TIP : You can nitpick the tree falling in space concept.

The tree is itself a medium, so if a tree broke in half in space somehow sound would happen in the medium to the tree itself.

In this case, what was once metaphysics is now physics. The laws of physics are called laws because they always work. So, based on what we know about mechanical waves and sound, a tree will always make a sound when it falls regardless of who is around to perceive it. Fact Myth. Interesting take. Thank you. You are right, if we define sound as that which involves sensing the pressure wave, then there is never sound unless an entity which can receive the pressure wave receives it. What we call sound is our auditory senses picking up on vibrations in molecules.

The molecules will vibrate, and any being with the right sensory organs will be able to hear it. If you say that sound is only the reception of vibrations, then you can maybe make a case here, but it is a somewhat semantic and philosophical stance. Waves travel through the air but they do not make sound until they hit something that interprets them as sound. It is similar to radio waves. They are continually traveling through our head, but there is no sound until we introduce a device that can convert them to sound waves.

A radio is like an ear drum for radio waves. It really does boil down to how you define sound. A wave is definitely different than the effect it has on something, so to call a wave in the atmosphere sound seems incorrect. It is not sound until there is something that interprets it as sound. Joe has just worked himself into an imaginary frenzy during the fade-out of his imaginary song. He begins to feel depressed now.

He knows the end is near.