Evolutionary Philosophy
  • Home
  • Worldview
    • Epistemology
    • Metaphysics
    • Logic
    • Ethics
    • Politics
    • Aesthetics
  • Applied
    • Know Thyself
    • 10 Tenets
    • Survival of the Fittest Philosophers >
      • Ancient Philosophy (Pre 450 CE)
      • Medieval Philosophy (450-1600 CE)
      • Modern Philosophy (1600-1920 CE)
      • Contemporary Philosophy (Post 1920 CE)
    • 100 Thought Experiments
    • Elsewhere
  • Fiction
    • Draining the Swamp >
      • Further Q&A
    • Short Stories
    • The Vitanauts
  • Blog
  • Store
  • About
    • Purpose
    • My Evolution
    • Evolution 101
    • Philosophy 101

Thought Experiment 81: Sense and Sensibility

2/20/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
Can you dig it?
If a philosopher philosophises in a blog that no one reads, does he make a stink about it? Read on. That will make sense in a minute...depending on what senses you bring to the table that is.

--------------------------------------------------
     The humanoids of Galafray are in many ways just like us. Their sense perception, however, is very different.
     For example, light reflected in the frequency range of the spectrum visible to humans is smelled by the Galafrains. What we see as blue, they sniff as citrus. Also, what we hear, they see. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is for them a silent psychedelic light show of breathtaking beauty. The only things they hear are thoughts: their own and those of others. Taste is the preserve of the eyes. Their best art galleries are praised for their deliciousness.
     They do not have the sense of touch, but they do have another sense we lack, called mulst. It detects movement and is perceived through the joints. It is as impossible for us to imagine mulst as it is for Galafrains to imagine touch.
     When humans first heard about this strange race, it did not take long for someone to ask: when a tree falls in a forest on Galafray, does it make a noise? At the same time, on Galafray they were asking: when a film is shown on Earth, does it make a smell?

Source: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley, 1710.

Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 241.
---------------------------------------------------

Knowing how little I wrote about George Berkeley, it's not surprising this week's thought experiment is a bit silly. It's a good one to demonstrate the importance of having an evolutionary perspective though, so I'll be back on Friday for a quick analysis of this. Can you already taste it?
2 Comments
John A. Johnson
2/20/2017 07:28:12 pm

I've always thought that the answer to the question "Does a tree falling in the forest make a sound with no one there?" depends on how you define "sound." To my mind, a sound or any other kind of sensory experience (smell, taste sight, mulst) comes into being from the interaction of specific aspects of the physical environment (e.g., specific frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum) and biological structures that have evolved to activate in the presence of these aspects of the environment. Therefore, if there are no biological creatures to detect the vibrations of a falling tree, there is no sound, only vibrations.

Now, some people might equate "sound" with those vibrations and therefore claim that a tree falling in the forest always makes a sound. I think it is a mistake to equate our concept of sound with vibrations caused by the displacement of a tree because it too anthropocentric. Non-humans, including the hypothetical race from Galafray, have evolved biological structures that produce an experience of falling trees that differs from our experience. I suspect that even trees sense the falling of other trees, although it would not be like our hearing of sounds.

So, for a tree to make a sound when it falls in the forest, there needs to be a human or another life form with a nervous system similar enough to ours for a *sound* to be produced. Some creatures will have different, non-sound experiences of falling trees. Without any life forms around to detect the falling tree, there will be only vibrations in the air, but no sound or other experience within the nervous system of the life form.

Reply
@EdGibney link
2/23/2017 02:08:20 pm

Absolutely, this will come down to definitions. Can you *make* a sound and *take* a sound? Are such acts separable? I think yes, but of course that is a matter of definition and therefore convention. As for other types of sensory reception, I'll withhold full comment until my post, but sure, I think that also comes down to precise wording about observations of the physical universe.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to Help Shape This Evolution

    SUBSCRIBE

    RSS Feed


    Blog Philosophy

    This is where ideas mate to form new and better ones. Please share yours respectfully...or they will suffer the fate of extinction!


    Archives

    January 2023
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    April 2012


    Click to set custom HTML
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.