Verified answer

it's a koan, it is not suppose to have any logical answer. it suppose to help you not think logically, preferably not think at all in hope of transcending. if you must think, the simple answer to your question is yes and no so there is no classic proof.

many will answer yes, even if you aren't there to hear it, it still make a sound by reason. kinda like when you close your eyes, your computer is still there even though you aren't seeing it. like you know i'm using a computer to write this answer, yet you never seen me doing so.

on empirical epistemological level, suppose there is absolutely no way to verify and observe something, then does something still exist? in the koan, if there is no one to hear the noise, does noise still exist? if so, in a scientific realm, how are you suppose to prove the unverifiable? it's commonly agreed that just because something isn't verifiable does not prove its nonexistence. if not, what is that thing that's doing the observing, does that exist? symbolically this means the tree or the human in the koan or be it reason and logic. in other words, can human ear hear itself and exist alone? if there are no noise to verify your ear, are you sure you have good ears?

if the sound proves the ear and vice versa, then in one sense, they are the same thing, being both the observer and observed. you, this apple, this computer, the sound of birds, the sky, the stars, the taste of food are the same. then that brings the question of the whole. on metaphysical level, can something exist outside of all there is? the answer maybe no. you know the whole exist and yet it cannot be proven, because there is nothing outside of it. the whole encompasses whatever you can think of.

No way to prove it, because no one is there. Sound is determined by the human ear--Resonance in the ear canal from reverberations--which can not be present if the human is not present.Even if you put a speaker system there, you would have to have a person there to cause the tree to fall, in which case your your experiment would be faulty.

However, does it really matter? If you are not there and a tree falls,and you come upon the scene after the fact, do you really concern yourself with whether or not a sound was indeed made?

A Zen-y question. The answer is yes...it makes the sound of one hand clapping.

Want proof? Set-up a recorder at the tree which has been cut almost through, tie a rope around the tree, attach same to car bumper...you get the idea.

(There goes a flock of them now...)

Ok...On the serious side...sound can be considered a 'perception', like 'sight'. There's daylight shining on the other side of the Earth when it's dark for us. We don't see it but that doesn't cancel the fact.

If a tree falls and no one is around to hear it then it still makes a sound.

Sound is a product of vibrations traveling through the air and is then interpreted by our ears and brain. The sound itself however was originally produced by the tree falling and would have made the exact same vibrations and sound whether or not there were ears and brains there to interpret it.

A tree falling will send out vibrations. If nothing is there to translate the vibrations into sound, then nothing hears it, because "sound" is completely dependent upon those little bones in our ears for its very existence - oh, and those little mechanisms in the tape recorder as well. If there's a bear in the woods, doing whatever, he'll hear it - sound. A bird - sound. If there's no translator - no sound, just vibrations.

And, Peter, yes the husband will still be wrong. ; )

The answer is no, to both questions. Us and other organisms have the ability to translate the waves that were created by the tree falling into sound. If an alien cannot translate th ewaves, they can see the tree falling but not hear it. Feel it, maybe.

You mis-heard. It was a question, not a statement.

And, yes, they do make a noise regardless of whether there's anyone around to hear it. The laws of physics operate the same with or without humans present.

Some said put a recorder there,but that collects sound waves so it would be the same as an ear hearing it. doubt if it can be proven!

i admire Shel SIlverstein's answer to this question. He drew a 4 panel sketch with the tree upright, commencing as much as fall, falling and fallen. the ideal panel has the tree with a voice balloon. The caption: "Oh, sh!t".

I first heard this question when I was around 6.

And to this day I cannot figure out what I think about it.

No matter how much proof I could get from either side, I don't think it would help me make up my mind.

What a brain teaser!