If A Tree Falls In The Forest, And No One's Around, Then... ?

Question

...What Would Lead You To Believe That A Tree Fell In The First Place?

If you see the tree afterwards, then wouldn't it be as much a folly to assume that it fell to assume that it made a sound?

Answer 1

Trees generally grow so that they're upright.

If you see a tree lying down on the ground, it has to have fallen at some point, otherwise it would still be upright.

So, in my opinion, it would not be a folly to assume that the tree fell. Or that it made a sound, but that's another story.

Answer 2

the fact that they don't tend to lie down =]

and it did make a sound... i hope... or else my whole belief in life is going down the plug whole... =]

Answer 3

If I once saw the earth rise up to meet it I would be skeptical. But the question is not if the sound existed. It is if a human being doesn't experience something does it have an independent existence. So yes the question is does the moon exist when it is sets. Is humanity the arbiter of all existence. Silly question really, eh?

(as I click on preview everything around you goes dark and ceases to exist...)

Answer 4

paul bunyan has been trying to keep his existence a secret, leave him be.

Answer 5

...unless i was sleeping in a hammock suspended from the tree...the only way i would know if it fell is if i was under it...cause i sure didn't hear a sound...

Answer 6

aside from the pure reason of seeing the broken trunk

and surrounding forest with trees growing at all stages

and further decayed fallen trees; without logic,

it would not be folly to assume that it did not fall.

Answer 7

If the tree fell on a Mime would he make a sound?

Would all the other trees laugh?

Would anybody care?

Will this dead horse ever cease to be beaten?

Tune in tomorrow for thr next.......

Answer 8

It wouldn't be folly to assume a downed tree had fallen because trees don't grow horizontally while lying flat on the ground with their root system exposed. Hm-m-m??

Answer 9

the tree falling is part of your hypothesis, so it would have to be as true as any other part thereof, therefore there is a certain amount of redundancy in asking.

secondly, if the tree has indeed fallen, how will we be sure that the tree we are seeing is the same tree of which you speak?

one can argue that all assumptions are folly, as all folly's are assumed.

thirdly, surely a tree, as an inanimate object, has no way of making a sound. the resultant sound, if any, would have to be in conjunction with a third party object. therefore a sound would only be possible, yet not necessarily definite if the tree fell.

and how much of that wood would a woodchuck chuck?

Answer 10

True, true. But the question usually speaks of a hypothetical tree, thus there is no way to prove it either way.

Our world is based on assumptions. If you don't assume that the ground will support you as you walk, how would you live?