Oh the trees...

[franceslievens]

A tree falls in the middle of the woods. The question is: Does it make a sound if there's no-one to hear it? Do we, humans, need a witness of what we express, and what do we express when we stay silent?

Comments

[chrissie-linnit.livejournal.com]

The sadness is that we do compare, and recognise the parity of, Joe's life as akin to that falling tree? Joe has fallen, but does his death resonate? Are the silent marchers anything more than leaves on the trees in the forest? Is the snuffing out of one young man's light anything more than the flicker of a star in the night sky? Is the (wo)man who cut short that life given any more attention that that falling tree?

So sad. I shall think of Joe's parent's in my prayers tonight.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

There has been lots of talking about Joe and his friend and his family lately. I didn't really talk about it on here, because what is there to say? We can think about it and send our loves to the ones that got hurt, so we try to take their worries onto us and lighten their hearts a little.

The little kids in my classes that own an mp3-player are scared to use it. One of them was even scared to ride his bike. So sad.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

A silent march is never truly silent...

As for your falling tree, I have a hard time to imagine an empty forest without any living creature. Even though there was no animals at all, the tree's fall would resonate in the other trees...so yes there's a sound. It's only a matter of waves after all.

I know it isn't what you expected at all but philosophy is so anthropocentric sometimes!

But I have another question:

Is there a difference between a sound that no-one can hear for there's nobody to hear it, and a sound that we can't hear but others, like dogs, might ?

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Oh you are right. We say so much with out gestures and a march is a big gesture.

It's the same response I ahve to the falling-tree-problem. I simply used it, because it's such a well-known image and seemed to fit what I tried to say.

No, like you said: it's just the waves.
So a sound no-one can hear is a sound that's: (a) produced in a soundproof box or (b) produced in a vacuum. In the last case there is nothing to transport the waves.