Whats the deal with "If a tree falls in the woods..."?

Question

What is the deal with the question "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?" Of course it makes a sound. We don't have to be there for the air around something to be displaced

technically you don't need to hear sound for it to be sound. As long as air is displaced in a way that you could have heard have you been there, then it is sound

Answer 1

technically: for it to be called a sound (as the word is considered in its technically sense) it is most oftenconsidered to be the activation of the nerves contained within the ear canal which send and electrical signal to the brain indicating that the ear has been activated by ....
so, there is no sound unlesss some being hears it... need not be us... how about a mouse, maybe a racoon, so in that sense... yes there is a sound.....
BUT the tree makes a sounding.... a potentialy hear-able movement of air of sufficient force, speed and direction that it may make a sound if someone were nearby to listen to it.....

Answer 2

Unless you are a solipsist, you believe that the tree is there even though you didn't hear it or experience it aesthetically. So then, it depends on your definition of a "sound."
1. If you mean a mechanical wave that affects the ear and is interpreted by the brain, then no.
2. If you mean a mechanical wave that merely affects the medium around it, then yes.

This is all analyzing it scientifically.

The question is clever in that it disguises itself as a scientific problem that sends you searching for the definition of a "sound." The most likely purpose of this question is to evoke thought, about what defines experience, and where science seperates from (philosophical) belief. And it is succesful in doing so.

Answer 3

It isn't meant to be literal.
Of course we know it'll make a sound.
The question is does it matter if something happens and you aren't around to see the effects of it?
The answer is yes.
It might not effect you but it effects others.
For example when a tree falls another animal might heard the sound of it crashing.

Answer 4

If no ones ear drum is compressed by the air being displaced how is there a sound?

Answer 5

You can also ask if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to see it did it fall down.

Answer 6

The constructivist theory says that nothing is real until it is perceived by man. So reality differs for everyone. I do not subscribe to this theory, but I always think of the tree falling cliche when I think of constructivism.

Answer 7

The question is not meant to be taken from a scientific stance. The point is to help one understand that he can only define "reality" by that which he is subjectively experiencing at that moment, along the same lines as the story of Schrodinger's cat.

Answer 8

Ah, but how do you know the tree even existed if you never saw it and you didn't hear it make a sound when it fell?

Answer 9

A good "take off" on that famous question: " If a man makes a statement and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?

Answer 10

a sound is a sensual event and it is heard with the "ear" if there was no ear to hear then there would be know sound.It is a koan a type of poetry to stimulate a response.