If a tree falls in the woods, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Question

I'm curious what you guys think.

Tell me your answer and why.

Best answer will be given to the best explanation why.

Answer 1

If a person dies in the woods and no one knows it, he is still dead.

Answer 2

i think it would make a sound, it would just be that no one would be around to hear it, the animals around the area would be able to hear it!

Answer 3

From a physics standpoint Yes, from a biology standpoint No.

Sound in physics is a vibration transmitted through a medium when objects release Kinetic energy into their surroundings. So a tree falling in an unoccupied forest will make a sound, because it will produce a aucoustic wave it its surrounding medium (air).

In biology sound can be taken to mean the perception of this wave by a human (or animal). Therefore the wave only becomes sound when it interacts with the ear drum and is interpretted as stimulus by the brain.

Answer 4

Yes. And that's teh point! There is so much between heaven and earth we don't know --- the secrets of life --- the tree falls, the secrets make their way through our life, but nobody recognize the sound, but nobody sees the whole answer how to manage the secret.

philosophical hugs from germany

Answer 5

Sound is a Transmitted vibrations of any frequency so really whether there was someone in the wood or not the sound will be there.

Humans can hear sounds at frequencies from about 20Hz to 20,000Hz, we don't hear all sounds, we can't hear the sound a dog whistle makes, but dogs can hear that sound does that mean (just because we can not hear it- if we are there or not) it is not there.

Answer 6

No, it doesn't make a sound. For there truly to be sound, someone has to be around to hear it.

Answer 7

Yes, the tree does make a sound. The sound just isn't heard by anyone.

Answer 8

Sound, like all other natural phenomena, exists whether or not there is an observer.

If everyone closed their eyes at once, the stars would not stop shining.

Answer 9

of course it does...

Answer 10

That question is an old conversation starter which I don't believe was ever worded properly.  According to my interpretation, it addresses the question of whether there is a purely objective reality existing independently of our perception.  However, the question, as it's phrased, makes it a given that the tree fell.  Common sense would suggest, then, that it did make a sound.

As for the issue I think the question was intended to address, I do not believe there is an answer.  We cannot prove that there is any reality without relying on our own perception. To do so, we would have to see beyond our own sight and hear beyond our own hearing, both of which are obvious contradictions in terms.

There is one exception to this rule but it does not apply to the falling tree scenario.  Descartes argued that there is one thing that we can prove: our own existence. "I think; therefore, I am," he said. In other words, I must exist since someone must be doing the thinking.

Answer 11

No, the laws of physics stop when it hears these types of questions....

Answer 12

I love this question because it really asks people to show their cards.

A huge amount of people these days claim to be subjectivists (or postmodern inspired existentialists). Such a standpoint holds that everything we know and experience is dependent on a "subject" i.e. us to perceive the world. There can be nothing without us: no morals, no God, no world, and, in this example, no sounds.

This question is brilliant because, no matter how rationally and intellectually we argue for subjectivity, intuitively and naturally, people want to say "Of course the tree makes a noise...stop being so silly".

If they were die hard subjectivists, they would baulk at such a "realism" and "objectivity" which was the byword of modernernism's rationalism.

This questions shows how little people actually believe the subjectivity and context-sensitivity they preach to the high-heavens.  

Answer 13

yes of course it will make a noise if you fell  and nobody was around would you make a noise  

Answer 14

If no one cared enough to actually be there when the tree fell then why would anyone care if it made a sound?

Answer 15

that is an old saying,it is older then you are! yes it does make a sound you just never hear it but i bet somebody heard it.nice try it makes you think?????????

Answer 16

Scientifically,the answer is yes.

I want to say yes.

But if you consider sound only when you hear it,the answer is no.

But in that case you deny infrasonic sounds that really exists.

Again as our audible sound range is only 20-20,000 decible,

we miss all the ultrasonic & infrasonic sounds.

So how can you deny them?

Answer 17

yes it makes a sound, nobody is around to here it (humans), but animals hear it.