John Locke: Did the Fallen Tree Make a Sound?
Did The Fallen Tree Make A Sound It is the time and time again old saying does the tree falling in the woods make any sound if no one is around to hear it hit the ground. This question has plagued mankind for an undetermined amount of years many even centuries. No one is for sure of the questions origin however the question itself is the important factor not the origin. There has been many debates over the issue. I choose to use simple logic and reasoning close to the same as John Locke would of thought and try to make a reasonable agreement. John Locke was known as an empiricists epistemologists whose essay has puzzled many minds and made many observations into the human knowledge. Even though many consider John Locke a failure there are a ton more who consider him a brilliant mind. “Though the qualities that affect our senses are, in the things themselves, so united and blended, that there is no separation, no distance between them: yet it is plain, the ideas they produce in the mind enter by the senses simple and unmixed.” (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding pg 86) there is no doubt that if the mind thinks the tree makes a sound then it does according to Locke. Yet the argument is to be made that any mind can make a rash thought of ideas that no longer are plausiable. Sometimes the mind needs something as simple as the tree fallen sounding to reset itself and to be reassured. Locke later states that simple ideas only enter the mind through two ways which are sensation and reflection An Essay Concerning Human Understandin pg 88). For most people the answer to the question is simple, a tree will always make a sound when it falls, their reasoning behind this is the tree makes a sound when someone is around to hear it so why will it not make a sound when no one is around to hear it. The senses have always played tricks on the human race. The sound will always remain to be true due to the fact that the mind thinks that it will, so why doubt the mind.
References: 1. Encyclopedia or similar comprehensive works: Kemerling, Garth, “John Locke: The Origin of Ideas.” Philosophy Pages. Britannica Internet.2001. Web. 1 Mar. 2009 http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4l.htm 2. Secondary: Rescher, Nicholas. “Epistemology: an introduction to the theory of knowledge.” State University of New York . 2003 Ebrary. http://apus.aquabrowser.com//?itemid=%7clibrary%2fm%2fapus%7cocm56408585 3. Primary source: Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Kitchener, Ont.:Batoche, 2001 Ebrary. 2005.4 Oct. 2010 http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/lib/apus/Doc?id=2001993 4. Journal: http://www.iep.utm.edu/