It is often asserted that, in view of the situation in quantum theory, object and subject can no longer be sharply separated. 1 To use Heitlers words, the separation of the world into an objective outside reality, and us, the self-conscious onlookers, can no longer be maintained. Object and subject become inseparable from each other. 2 This, according to Bohr, is due to the impossibility of any sharp separation between the behaviour of atomic objects and the interaction with the measuring instruments which serve to define the conditions under which the phenomena appear. 3 Heitler elaborates the point in some detail. One may ask, he writes, if it is sufficient to carry out a measurement by a self-registering apparatus or whether the presence of an observer is required. And he arrives at the conclusion that the self-registering apparatus is insufficient, and that the observer appears, as a necessary part of the whole structure, and in his full capacity as a conscious being.
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About Karl R. Popper
Karl R. Popper was a 20th-century British austrian–british philosopher of science. Sir Karl Raimund Popper was an Austrian–British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the classical inductivist views on the scientific method in favour of empirical falsification made possible by his falsifiability criterion, and for founding the Department of Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Read more on Wikipedia →