Thursday, May 7, 2009

Think...really think.

To help keep the pollen off your brain we are going to answer a few philosophical questions. You discussed philosophy in Current Events on Tuesday. Remember that we are not looking for right or wrong answers...just thoughtful answers. Have fun!

1. Does a tree make a sound if it falls in the forest with no one around? Explain your reasoning.

8 comments:

  1. No, a tree doesn't make a sound if it falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it. I think this because of the question; what is sound? Is it something that is just there or is it something we expect to here and just here it out of habit. I think it is just one of those things out of habit. For example, an optical illuion only works because you're brain can't make sence of what you are seeing so it picks something that it will recognise. If you think about it scientificaly you would think that it makes a sound. But, if you really think about it non-scientifically you might get a diffrent conclusion.
    -Chico

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  2. Yes because trees make a sound when they fall even if something doesn't hear it, it still fell. Boyd

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  3. No, when a tree falls and nobody hears it it obviously isn't making a sound. There could be a reason nobody heard it. Maybe because of a storm or something.

    -Teddy

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  4. Yes, I think that the tree still made a sound even if nobody was there to hear it. We almost always never hear things that make sounds. The same thing applies here. The tree makes a sound just nobody was there to hear it. People can't hear many things anyway, we can only hear a little amount of things like a dog whistle you can't really hear those, but a dog can.


    -Hunter

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  5. No, if a tree falls with no one around the sound waves don't hit anything. That way it can't be heard.

    -Mac

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  6. i have put some thought into it bu I'm mot sure. With what science tells us it would. But the great thing about this question is that it qestions exactly how much we know.
    -Max

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  7. Actually, sound is just the brain recognizing the vibrations that hit the ear drum. Without someone (or something) to listen to it, no sound is created. The tree does create vibrations though.
    Mr. C

    (Sorry, I teach science, not philosophy.)

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  8. Wow this is a really interesting...
    I would have thought that it still made a sond but reading everyone's answers has realy got me thinking!
    Well done.
    Saro Rm 10 MIS

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