silence

Perception

In the philosophy of perception and the science of perception, there has been a longstanding controversy as to how humans experience silence: "the perceptual view (we literally hear silence), and the cognitive view (we only judge or infer silence)", with prominent theories holding the latter view. However, a study published in 2023 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported findings based on empirical experiments testing whether temporal distortions known to be experienced with respect to sounds, were also analogously experienced with respect to periods of silence. The experimental results in all cases suggested that, at least in this context, humans respond to moments of silence the same way as to sounds—supporting the perceptual view that humans literally hear silence.

Rhetorical practice

Silence may become an effective rhetorical practice or communication tactic when people choose to be silent for a specific purpose. It has not merely been recognized as a theory but also as a phenomenon with practical advantages. When silence becomes rhetorical, it is intentional since it reflects a meaning. Rhetorical silence targets an audience rather than the rhetorician.

Strategic silence be an instrument in negotiations, debates, interpersonal relationships, and even broader social and political contexts. Its effectiveness lies in its ambiguity. It can be interpreted in a multitude of ways, fostering uncertainty and prompting introspection in the other party. This ambiguity can be leveraged to gain an advantage, create space for reflection, or even exert pressure without uttering a single word.

Uses

History

Joseph Jordania has suggested that in social animals (including humans), silence can be a sign of danger. Many social animals produce seemingly haphazard sounds which are known as contact calls. These are a mixture of various sounds, accompanying the group's everyday business (for example, foraging, feeding), and they are used to maintain audio contact with the members of the group. Some social animal species communicate the signal of potential danger by stopping contact calls and freezing, without the use of alarm calls, through silence. Charles Darwin wrote about this in relation with wild horse and cattle. Jordania has further suggested that human humming could have been a contact method that early humans used to avoid silence. According to his suggestion, humans find prolonged silence distressing (suggesting danger to them). This may help explain why lone humans in relative sonic isolation feel a sense of comfort from humming, whistling, talking to themselves, or having the TV or radio on.

Spirituality

"Silence" in spirituality is often a metaphor for inner stillness. A silent mind, freed from the onslaught of thoughts and thought patterns, is both a goal and an important step in spiritual development. Such "inner silence" is not about the absence of sound; instead, it is understood to bring one in contact with the divine, the ultimate reality, or one's own true self, one's divine nature. Many religious traditions imply the importance of being quiet and still in mind and spirit for transformative and integral spiritual growth to occur. In Christianity, there is the silence of contemplative prayer such as centering prayer and Christian meditation, and there are periods of reverent silence during liturgical celebrations. In some traditions of Quakerism, communal silence is the usual context of worship meetings, in patient expectancy for the divine to speak in the heart and mind. In Islam, there are the wisdom writings of the Sufis who insist on the importance of finding silence within. In Buddhism, the descriptions of silence and allowing the mind to become silent are implied as a feature of spiritual enlightenment. In Hinduism, including the teachings of Advaita Vedanta and the many paths of yoga, teachers insist on the importance of silence, Mauna, for inner growth. Ramana Maharishi, a revered Hindu sage, said, "The only language able to express the whole truth is silence." Pirkei Avot, the Jewish Sages guide for living, states that, "Tradition is a safety fence to Torah, tithing a safety fence to wealth, vows a safety fence for abstinence; a safety fence for wisdom ... is silence." In the Baháʼí Faith, Baha'u'llah said in "Words of Wisdom", "the essence of true safety is to observe silence". Eckhart Tolle says that silence can be seen either as the absence of noise, or as the space in which sound exists, just as inner stillness can be seen as the absence of thought, or the space in which thoughts are perceived.

Commemoration

A common way to remember a tragic incident and to remember the victims or casualties of such an event is a commemorative moment of silence.

Debate

Argumentative silence is the rhetorical practice of saying nothing when an opponent in a debate expects something to be said. Poorly executed, it can be offensive, like refusing to answer a direct question. A well-timed silence can throw an opponent off and give the debater the upper hand.

An argument from silence (Latin: argumentum ex silentio) is an argument based on the assumption that someone's silence on a matter suggests (an informal fallacy) that person's ignorance of the matter. In general, ex silentio refers to the claim that the absence of something demonstrates the proof of a proposition.

Law

The right to silence is a legal protection enjoyed by people undergoing police interrogation or trial in certain countries. The law is either explicit or recognized in many legal systems.

Film

The documentary film In Pursuit of Silence (2016) portrays the spiritual and physical benefits of silence, as well as the price paid individually and collectively for a noisy world. It is narrated by authors Helen Lees (Silence in Schools), Pico Iyer (The Art of Stillness), Susan Cain (Quiet), Maggie Ross (Silence: A User's Guide), and George Prochnik (In Pursuit of Silence).

Music

Music inherently depends on silence, in some form or another, to distinguish other periods of sound and allow dynamics, melodies, and rhythms to have greater impact. For example, most music scores feature rests, which denote periods of silence. In addition, silence in music can be seen as a time for contemplation. The audience feels the effects of the previous notes and melodies, and can intentionally reflect on what they have heard. Silence does not hinder musical excellence but can enhance the sounds of instruments and vocals within a given musical composition.

In his book Sound and Silence (1970), the composer John Paynter says, "the dramatic effect of silence has long been appreciated by composers." He gives as an example "the general pause in the middle of the chorus 'Have lightnings and thunders …' in Bach's St. Matthew Passion":

After the pause, the music continues to the words: "Open up the fiery bottomless pit, O hell!" The silence is intended to communicate a momentary sensation of terror, of staring into unfathomable darkness. Another example of a dramatic silence comes in the "rest full of tension" at the climactic ending of the Hallelujah chorus in Handel's Messiah:

Musical silences may also convey humour. Haydn's Quartet in E flat, Op. 33 was nicknamed "The Joke", because of the comic timing of the pauses at the end of the last movement:

Taruskin (2010, p. 552) says, "whenever this ending is performed, it takes the audience an extra second or so to recover its wits and realize that the piece is indeed over. The result is an inevitable giggle—the same giggle that overtakes a prestidigitator's audience when it realizes that it has been 'had'."

Barry Cooper (2011, p. 38) writes extensively of Beethoven's many uses of silence for contemplation, for dramatic effect and especially for driving the rhythmic impetus of the music. He cites the start of the second movement of the Ninth Symphony, where the silences contribute to a powerful sense of propulsion: "The rhythm of bar 1 is incomplete and demands a note at the beginning of bar 2. The substitution of such a note by a whole-bar rest therefore gives the effect of a suppressed sound, as if one were about to speak but then refrains at the last moment. The 'suppressed sound' is then repeated in bar 4, and 'developed' (by being doubled) in bars 7 and 8." writes of the "strange irregularity of rhythm in the sixth bar" of this movement.