"If a tree falls..."

[Grant Barrett]

On May 11, 2005, at 14:23, Fred Shapiro wrote:
> Can anyone help me determine the origin of the philosophical
> conundrum "If
> a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?"

I can't help you with that (and it looks like a good job has already
been done), but I can give you my usual answer to the question: "If a
tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, is there a forest?" (As
an answer it has the benefits of not only being koan-like, but of
avoiding linguistic and semantic quibbles, too.)

Grant Barrett
gbarrett at worldnewyork.org