The red dashed line under the heading reports a non-word, at least not a word in the 0s and 1s of my computer dictionary. Yet, with little effort, all English readers know it:
Unsilenting: ceasing to be silent.
[And no, ChatGPT, neither unsilence nor insolence fit.]
Unsilenting is to write, to speak, to publicly proclaim after having been silent, often due to disingenuous acts of others. I’ve been silent for too long but now begin Unsilenting. Join; become in an unsilent way.
If a tree falls...
If a tree falls in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? The philosopher’s conundrum that befuddles lay and professional alike.
The flippant response of lazy fresh-persons, or more practical persons like my wife and father, “Who cares?” gets at the nub of the issue. While the naked retort likely signals disinterest, it is actually core to making progress. After all, if no one is in the forest then no one cares literally. Without cognisant beings within the sound-wave radius, the presence or absence of sound is least interesting, let alone incoherent (no questions can be asked without persons) and impossible (felled trees are unknowable without observers). Meanwhile in a practical sense, asking the who-cares question forces the interrogator to clarify the question.
Sound and Silence
Thankfully, a pragmatic Jamesian ploy2 can be fruitful. Clearly defining 'sound' removes most befuddlement and opens a door to greater understanding.
- What does the philosopher mean by ‘sound’?
- Is ‘sound’ an event of nature—a public event?
- Is ‘sound’ an experience of a being—a private event?
To use a more common phrasing:
- Is ‘sound’ a thing ‘out there’ or an experience ‘in here’?
Similar to all sensation/perception putative dichotomies, the challenge is to clearly define terms.
In everyday occurrence, the production of a sound and its experience usually are the same: hammer hitting anvil produces a bang! every time. Associating the mechanical production of an event and its experience is effective because these events typically occur concurrently. When writing casually, the term sound can refer to both the source (compressed and rerefacted air) and the effect (the heard “bang!”).
When philosophers become physicists or behaviourists (and sometimes psychologists), however, precision is demanded. Sound production has been clearly demonstrated as distinct from sound experience, both mechanically and personally. This distinction is helpful regardless if the lazy fresh-person chafes. Ultimately, the answer to the philosopher’s falling tree hinges on the precise definition of sound.
Sound waves occur when an event is heard, but the term sound labels the hearing rather than the waves that produce it. Air waves become sound upon moving the tympani of an awake and competent person. No person means no sound, even if molecules move. Felled trees may3 create waves of molecules but the heard “whoosh” and “thud” only happen with a hearer present. The issue remains when considering other sensory modalities:
- Vision: Is an apple red?
- Olfaction: Is a rose sweet?
- Gustation: Is a lemon bitter?
- Tactile: Is a caress genuine?
- Vestibular: Is the world spinning?
Silent and Silence, Private and Public
Clarity improves when one acknowledges the ‘out there’ (call it public) and the ‘in here’ (call it private) components of phenomena4. Silence, a noun, labels a state in nature. Silent, an adjective, describes behaviour. Both create voids, but from different directions. Silenting creates one through self restraint, while silencing imposes one by quieting others. Silenting is offered (“I will not speak.”); silencing is directed (“Be quiet!”). Silencing quiets noise; silenting stills a voice.
Silence is broken when air molecules move rhythmically. Unsilenting begins when a voice shapes molecules into words. Having been silent for far too long, here, now, I fell my tree; unsilent my voice; make molecules wave. Hearing is your task.
Subscribe to encourage.
Submit, become in an unsilent way.
In an Unsilent Way1
The word was the beginning. Before, maybe molecules waved without sound. Unsilenting shaped waves, felled trees whooshed and thudded.
