The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist.

Meaning of the quote

The quote from Erwin Schrodinger, an Austrian scientist, suggests that the world we experience is the only one that exists. There is no separate "real" world and a "perceived" world - they are one and the same. Additionally, the distinction between the observer (the "subject") and the thing being observed (the "object") is not as clear-cut as we might think. Recent advances in science have not broken down this barrier, because it never truly existed in the first place.

About Erwin Schrodinger

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger (UK: , US: ; German: [‘eavIn ‘SRo:dINGa]; 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes written as Schroedinger or Schrodinger, was a Nobel Prize-winning Austrian and naturalized Irish physicist who developed fundamental results in quantum theory. In particular, he is recognized for postulating the Schrodinger equation, an equation that provides a way to calculate the wave function of a system and how it changes dynamically in time.

More about the author

More quotes from Erwin Schrodinger

An animal that embarks on forming states without greatly restricting egoism will perish.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and variations in the structure of space.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

I don’t like it, and I’m sorry I ever had anything to do with it.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

The mathematical framework of quantum theory has passed countless successful tests and is now universally accepted as a consistent and accurate description of all atomic phenomena.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

The verbal interpretation, on the other hand, i.e. the metaphysics of quantum physics, is on far less solid ground. In fact, in more than forty years physicists have not been able to provide a clear metaphysical model.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

For a solitary animal egoism is a virtue that tends to preserve and improve the species: in any kind of community it becomes a destructive vice.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)

Quantum physics thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe.

Erwin Schrodinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961)