If a tree falls, and there is nobody there to hear it, does it still make a noise??

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Let's break your question down to just the phrase "if a tree fall". Regardless of whether anyone is there to hear it or not, the falling tree still is going to make noise no matter what. To prove that you take a deaf man and you blind folded him, then you take him to the woods and have some one cut the tree. But you tell him nothing of the falling tree. After this is done, you take him back where he is, and take out the blind fold and have some one that can interpret in sign language ask him what happened before the he was brought back from the forest. What do you think he'll response. Here's his exact response would be. I can hear the fallen tree and I can even [feel] it when it hit the ground. The question you would ask is, how the hell can he here if he is deaf. He would say something of this sort, "I'm not deaf you dumb @ss, I'm blind!" Good enough, yes?

Answer 3

If You Set Up Audio Equipment In The Forest
And Turned It On Tho Capture The Noises
And Then Went Home
And a tree falls,
and there is nobody there to hear it,
Except The Audio Equipment
does it still make a noise??

Answer 4

My standard answer to this question...
This is really a half philosophy, half psychology question.
The answer is no.
Sound is a phenonenon, an effect that takes place in the mind in response to a nomena taking place in the external world.
Outside of our human perceptions it is only vibrating air molecules. Its like when the kid in the Matrix tells Neo there is no spoon. There is no sound. We make it up. Its only similiar to all of us because we are all the same type of machine.
This is one of the biggest philosophical hurdles, getting folks to realize that the actual external world and our perception of the external world looks very different. Light as we see it is not light at all, it is an effect in our mind in response to electromagnetic waves being focused upside down onto the rods and cones in our eyes, which is then transmitted from the eyes to the brain via electric impulses...a little room for error there eh?
An important truth to realize about philosophy is that we will never see the world as it truly exsists. It is all distorted and filtered and interpreted and the brain tries to represent everything in some sort of recognizable fashion. All of our senses are like this. We are all brains in a vat inside of our heads, with nothing but primitive feelers feeling at the world and trying to interpret it.
Its always a good question though, always full of controversy.
This is the wonderous, and can be a spark to many new philosophical questions.
Never quit asking the questions...

Answer 5

An oldy but a goodie all the same. That experiment Schrodingers cat illustrates the paradox that you're talking about - the observer's paradox. If we believe in reality then we would say yes, the tree would still act like a tree whether or not we are there to witness it. If we have a more 'Matrix' like take on life, we might not want to believe that life goes on regardless of whether we are in it or not. Have a read of the theory on the link below x

Answer 6

not that old chestnut, if you think hard enough surley you can come up with an origional question,well probably not origional.
i notice that you have put two question marks at the end of your question, is that because you are expecting both answers?
in a serious attempt to answer your question and so as not to discourage your philosophical journey, does your watch tell the time or does time tell your watch?

Answer 7

Of course. It is the same type of question as if no one saw you steal, is it still considered stealing? Just because no one was there to witness it doesn't mean that it didn't happen, or in this case, it doesn't make a sound.

Answer 8

Why wouldn't it make a noise, nothing is different other than you or someone else not being there. To think differently is not facing reality or thinking rationally....sorry.

Answer 9

If somebody asks the same question 14 times([1]) does anybody care?

Answer 10

most likely because when the tree falls it would displace air