claim

active

claim:observations-of-an-observer-s-inner-state-are-not-merely-psychological-but-can-actually-be-used-to-measure-something-real-about-the-external-world-itself-and-should-be-considered-part-of-physics

Observations of an observer's inner state are not merely psychological but can actually be used to measure something real about the external world itself, and should be considered part of physics

Alexander's most radical epistemological claim: phenomenological measurement belongs in physics, not just psychology

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Claims (1)

claim

Observation of a person's inner state of wholeness can give reliable and objective information about the objective living character of systems in the external world
extends
Central claim of the chapter: what appears subjective (inner feeling) is actually an objective measuring instrument for external reality

Questions (1)

question

Are observations of inner wholeness merely psychological reflections of attitude, or can they actually measure something real about the external world itself?
answered_by
The epistemological question whose answer determines whether the second method belongs to psychology or physics

Chapters (1)

chapter

Beyond Descartes: A New Form Of Scientific Observation
introduces
Core methodological chapter arguing for a second, post-Cartesian form of scientific observation using the observer's inner wholeness as an objective measuring instrument

Quotes (1)

quote

What I am proposing is that these observations of an observer's inner state are not merely a reflection of a person's attitude or psychology, but can actually be used to measure something real about the external world itself.
supports
Alexander's most radical epistemological claim stated with maximum directness

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

Anatomical goal states cannot be inferred from observation of stress states by an external observer.claim0.800
Knowledge of morphogenetic goals is inaccessible to external observers; only interior to system itself.
The measuring technique of observer inner feeling provides the mainstay of the claim that degree of life is an empirically observable quality in the worldclaim0.792
Concluding methodological claim of §9 linking the measurement technique to the empirical status of life as a world-property
Can external observers infer the anatomical goal state of a developing system by observing stress patterns?question0.789
Where Descartes only allowed observation to focus on the outer reality of mechanisms in the world, my method requires that we focus on the inner reality of feeling as well.quote0.789
Core distinction between the two methods stated concisely
Anatomical goal states could not be inferred from observation of stress states, revealing limits of external observer knowledgefinding0.787
What features of each theory specifically pick out brains as a privileged substrate of inner perspective, or do the features emphasized by the theory occur elsewhere?question0.778
The central research question that drives the paper's analysis.
Alexander's method of observation based on inner feelingmethod0.775
An empirical method that invites the observer to make distinctions based on inner feelings of wholeness, with a framework that guarantees consistency and objectivity.
The Cartesian method of observation, by forbidding inclusion of the observer's self, systematically excludes awareness of the different degrees of life in spaceclaim0.766
Alexander's critique of Cartesian epistemology as structurally incapable of perceiving living structure