# if a tree falls **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170 "2005-08-08T20:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/21 "2005-08-09T16:51:46Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > _Your_, dammit, _your!_. Teach me to post pre-coffee. :smack: Surely you don’t mean that you need chemicals to function properly. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/22 "2005-08-09T17:00:35Z")
If Helen Keller fell in a forest… Eh. I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/23 "2005-08-09T17:33:45Z")
If a tree falls in the forest, and lands on an existentialist, would anyone care? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/24 "2005-08-09T17:44:03Z")
Does the Pope shit in the woods? -Steve Martin ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/25 "2005-08-09T17:50:25Z")
[sub]eeeee[/sub]eeeee\*eeeeeEEEEEE **EEEEEEAAAAA** \ ***CRASH!!!** ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/26 "2005-08-09T19:26:42Z")
If D.B. Cooper falls in a forest, and no one is there to meet him, what happens to all the money? ---
**Author:** ![Sequent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sequent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sequent)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/27 "2005-08-09T20:05:29Z")
> [@CJJ\*](#): > > Just where and in what context did the “tree falling” question arise? Did someone use it to make a certain philosophical point? I always wondered about this myself. I’ve heard it attributed to Aquinas, but I believe that’s erroneous. According to [this](http://www.trinitynewport.org/History.htm) source: > [@](#): > > Dr. George Berkeley, later Bishop of Cloyne (Ireland). Bishop Berkeley spent three years in Newport and was much indebted to the members of the congregation. It was Bishop Berkeley who posed the famous question: “If a tree falls in the forest, but there is no one to hear, is there sound?”. Local legend has it that the Bishop first formulated his query while meditating in his favorite retreat, a niche (still called “Bishop’s Seat”) in the craggy rocks overlooking Sachuest Beach. ---
**Author:** ![Sequent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sequent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sequent)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/28 "2005-08-09T20:12:52Z")
I’ve found another [source](http://www.tamu.edu/univrel/aggiedaily/news/stories/03/033103-7.html) which _kind of_ attributes the question to Berkeley. I suppose if one concludes that Berkeley is at least responsible for the question’s modern popularity, the next question would be: did he in fact originate the example? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/29 "2005-08-09T20:17:17Z")
In case anyone’s wondering about the “one hand clapping” issue, I believe [this](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F08.html) has a definitive answer. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/30 "2005-08-09T20:41:36Z")
What do you mean no one? There’s always \*someone \* around to hear it, birds, chipmunks, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170.md?page=1)