If a tree falls in a forest does it make a noise if no one hears it? According to reason, logic, and the laws of physics the answer is obvious. Of course it does. Now watch this. I can show you how postmodern thinking disagrees by asserting, "If there is no one to hear the sound the sound does not exist." (I told you this stuff was too serious to be taken seriously.)
This is so serious it gets at the heart of what postmodern thinking is about. Ready?
Post modern thinking has many components. No one definition can serve as the definition. Here is one description. Reality is socially constructed. That means in a nutshell: we define, we perceive, we create what we decide "reality" to be.
Illustrations. My Dad was color blind. Red was green and green was red. For most of the population red is red and green is green. Chicago built the famous (at the time infamous) "Picasso" sculpture over 30 years ago. For the majority it was either an oddity or an absurdity. Today it is a cultural icon and landmark. An old movie called "The Gods Must be Angry" was about a coke bottle that fell out of an airplane and hit an African woodsman. He and his companion, not knowing what a coke bottle was, decided the gods must be angry and that this "thing" needed to be given back to the gods in the nearest holy city.
What do all three stories have in common? Perception. Socially constructed perception.
Put another way: society (us and a whole lot of other "us"es) over time and space make decisions about what is real and what is truth. Is there anything wrong with this? Not necessarily. Though in another post I'll show how controversial,political, and powerful the social construction of our (and others') truths can be.
Back to the noiseless falling tree. Science, medicine, and biology all agree that we hear sounds through our ears. Therefore, no ears to hear it fall means it made no sound. Silly you say? Right you are. It is only because we have "proven" that ears are a means to an end namely hearing, we cannot conceive a "thing" can make a sound without ears. Even if we are not there in the woods when the tree falls we still "hear" the crash in our ear's "eye". It is inconceivable to imagine a soundless tree falling. Unless someone turns down the sound.
It is inconceivable because we socially believe ears and sound are synonymous. No ears therefore no sound. No sound therefore no ears to hear.
So when a tree falls does it make a sound? Science says yes. Postmodern thinking says it depends upon where you stand. If we all (or most) agree ears and hearing belong together then we have socially constructed a truth using science to do so.
I told you this is a serious game. This is serious play.
sorry...i was not LISTENING...so i did not HEAR a thing...SOoOoOOOoo if person1 does not read aloud...and instead reads inside their 'head'... can person2 assume because they could not hear person1 reading in their 'head' that person1 didnt read anything at all???
ReplyDeleteNo. If person2 is "looking" at a book person1 cannot not imagine (at least the probability)that person1 is "reading" (in his head). This is the social interpretastion of reality. That is reading out loud or in our head are both social contructions and have nothing to do with sound; so your analogy does not fit the tree falling metaphor. All because of the word "looking". If person1 is not looking at a book perhaps he is having fun listening for falling trees.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. You raised an interesting point.