Natural Philosophy

In designing curricula for the digital/multimedia forensic sciences, I have spared no pains to secure clearness of expression, precision in definitions, and accuracy in the statement of facts. Wherever possible, references are quoted directly so that students are brought into the greater discussion of meanings, concepts, and percepts.

I've written previously about the value of a classical liberal arts education. One of the foundational courses of science is Natural Philosophy. Yes, Wikipedia describes Natural Philosophy as "the philosophical study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science. It is considered to be the precursor of natural science." This is only partially true. For example, the classification systems we employ today find their roots in Aristotle's Categories. Aristotle's Categories still inform the discussion of colour and light today. An example of this are Temperature/Tint adjustments of colour that affect the quality of light. If you read a colour adjustment tutorial and have no idea what they're talking about when they talk about a light's quality, this is what they're talking about ... and it comes from Aristotle. For a massively deep dive on the subject of light, you can read this amazing article from 1952: Richard Kelly–Lighting as an Integral Part of Architecture.

This is the type of deep-dive that you get in our classes, that isn't necessarily featured by other instructors who only demonstrate what buttons to push on a particular piece of software. Yes, you were shown, "officially," what buttons perform what functions. But, you were short changed when you didn't learn the deeper meanings of processes, or their history.

Another example comes from our courses' treatment of audio. We have stand-alone Forensic Audio Analysis courses. We also weave the analysis of audio into our Forensic Multimedia Analysis and Redaction courses.

I've encountered a shallow treatment of audio topics in many courses, with the instruction offering banal trivia on the human range of hearing that conflicts with not only modern science, but Natural Philosophy. It also conflicts with my own experiences with Sensory Processing Disorder / Sensory Integration Disorder (SPD).

Here's a simplistic view of the range of typically wired human hearing. "Humans can generally hear sounds with frequencies between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz (the audio range or hearing range) although this range varies significantly with age, occupational hearing damage, and gender. The majority of people can no longer hear 20,000 Hz by the time they are teenagers, and progressively lose the ability to hear higher frequencies as they get older. Most human speech communication takes place between 200 and 8,000 Hz and the human ear is most sensitive to frequencies around 1,000-3,500 Hz. Sound above the hearing range is known as ultrasound, and that below the hearing range as infrasound."

So bland. So meaningless. Yet, so often found in audio analysis courses and papers. It's missing the meat. It's missing the "so what" and the "why."

Here's a view of the same topic from Norton's 1870 contribution to the Eclectic Education Series, Elements of Natural Philosophy.

• 402. Limits of hearing. All ears are deaf to some vibrations. The gravest sound perceptible to the human ear is produced by sixteen complete vibrations in a second; the highest sound is caused by thirty-eight thousand com­plete vibrations in a second. The auditory range is not the same for all persons. Some can not hear the highest notes of a piano, others are insensible to the note of a cricket, or even the chirrup of a house swallow. The hearing of these persons may be exceedingly acute within their limit; that is, they may be able to distinguish very feeble sounds, as the lowest whisper. 
• 403. The distance at which sound is audible varies with its original intensity and the circumstances which modify it. Still air, of great density and uniform temperature, is favorable to the transmission of sound. Under ordinary circumstances, a powerful voice is distinct at a distance of seven hundred feet. In the arctic regions, Lieutenant Foster conversed with a sailor at the distance of a mile and a quarter. The cry of a sentinel, "All's well," has been conveyed, in still air, over calm water, ten miles. Winds and currents increase or diminish the conducting power of air, according to their direction and force. The earth transmits sound further than air. The cannonading at Antwerp, in 1832, was heard in the mines of Saxony, three hundred and twenty miles distant. 

Norton's treatment of the subject features not only the quality of sound and the range of hearing, but a discussion of the medium necessary for sound propagation - from 1857. Interestingly, Norton's range spans from 16-38,000 "com­plete vibrations in a second." Yes, you might know Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's unit of frequency (Hz) - but those that constitute the Trier of Fact might not. Studying the classics gives the richness that helps answer the "so what" and the "why."

Which buttons to press, and in which order, really only makes lasting sense if you have a grasp of the underlying Natural Philosophy. If you'd like to learn these foundational subjects, we'd love to see you in one of our upcoming courses.

See you soon...