Sunday Sound Thought 22 – Descartes and Sound

As the year continues, many of these posts will be philosophical in nature. Some will be in contradiction to previous postings. These are not intended as truths or assertions, they’re merely thoughts…ideas. Think of this as stream of consciousness over a wide span…

Descartes is the philosopher who shared the idea, “Je pense, donc je suis.”

Cogito ergo sum…I think, therefore I am.

The idea that proof of one’s existence is verified by the simple fact of self-awareness. Taking that idea to heavy extremes can lead to the concept of Solipsism, which I’ve touched on before in relation to sound. I don’t intend to go fall into the Solipsism trap today; rather, I plan to contradict that extreme idea. Sound can serve as proof that there exists object outside of ourselves.

I talked about the physical nature of sound early on in this series. So, if sound is the result of a physical interaction and has physical effects on other objects in its environment, then the fact that an object can be a component in the creation of sound proves that the object exists in the physical realm.

Seems like pointless philosophy on the surface, but if you can apply this idea to a character’s experience of the world…maybe it will do something interesting in the story.