Week #1 Contest Winner

Congratulations to Brother Blake for posing the winning question in the first weekly blog challenge issued on this site. The Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford educated college professor seized the opportunity to raise an intriguing philosophical question while simultaneously illustrating the lack of professional accomplishments achieved by his older brother. Blake asks, "If a man is alone on his 10 acre compound in outstate Missouri and he falls, will his failure make a sound?" I shall endeavor to give an answer as insightful as the question itself.

Empiricists have long held the general notion that "to be, is to be perceived". Rene Descartes used this idea to prove the existence of God. "Cogito, ergo sum" or "I think, therefore I am" is the basis of his argument. He begins by doubting the existence of all material things. By supposing that nothing exists, he removes all prejudices and can then set out to prove what does exist. By employing his mind, Descartes supposes the non-existence of those things of which his mind has any doubt. But because it is impossible for his mind not to exist as it contemplates the existence of other objects, then it must exist. Since it exists, he exists ("I think, therefore I am"), and he can then build upon this foundation to gain real proof of other objects' existence. He states that the method for gaining knowledge of objects is through perception. Perceptions are made through the use of the senses and the mind. Because his mind exists and perceives other objects, they too must exist.

So if a philosopher is alone in the 10 acre woods and he falls, will his failure make a sound? According to Descartes' theory, in order to exist, an object must be perceived. Existence is dependent upon perception. So, if I fall when I am alone in the woods, will my fall or "failure" (as Blake so bluntly phrases it), make a sound? According to Descartes' argument, it will not make a sound, since no one is there to perceive it. (I guess I was there to perceive it, but I would deny it in a court of law.) So are we to believe that if we were to walk out of a room, leaving no one to perceive the objects in the room, the objects would cease to exist? Yes, if there is truly no perceiver in the room. But we know that this can't be; that objects can't exist one minute and then not exist the next minute depending on whether or not we are looking at them. How can Descartes explain why objects don't behave this way? Because, he claims, God acts as the Great Perceiver. God is omnipresent and therefore ensures the existence of all that he perceives. Simply stated, God is everywhere and perceives everything. Therefore the objects in a room remain, even when we leave, because they are still being perceived. Thus, Descartes proves that God must exist.

It seems then, Brother Blake, according to Rene "the Renegade" Descartes, that if a man is alone on his 10 acre compound and falls, he is not alone at all, due to the presence of the Great Perceiver. Therefore God is bearing witness to his fall, or failure, and therefore, it makes a sound. So the answer to your inquiry is, "yes." Thank you for your question. I hope you find the answer as satisfying as the prize I am giving you for winning this week's contest: One glorious can of wholesome, tasty SPAM!!! Thank you everyone for making week #1 of "Big Thoughts- Little Man" a success. I will post the week #2 challenge soon. Stay tuned.