Whether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds.
Arthur EddingtonRead
The physical world is entirely abstract and without actuality apart from its linkage to consciousness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The physical world gains significance only through our awareness and perception of it.
Arthur Eddington's quote suggests that the physical universe does not hold intrinsic meaning or reality until it is interpreted through consciousness. This perspective aligns with idealism, where consciousness plays a pivotal role in creating the experience of reality, indicating that our understanding shapes the essence of the world around us.
Themes
ConsciousnessRealityPerceptionMeaningAbstract
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussion about the nature of reality.
More from Arthur Eddington
All quotes βIt is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them.
Arthur EddingtonRead
Whatever else there may be in our nature, responsibility toward truth is one of its attributes.
Arthur EddingtonRead
In the world of physics we watch a shadowgraph performance of the drama of familiar life. The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow table as the shadow ink flows over the shadow paper. It is all symbolic, and as a symbol the physicist leaves it. ... The frank realisation that physical science is concerned with a world of shadows is one of the most significant of recent advances.
Arthur EddingtonRead
So far as physics is concerned, time's arrow is a property of entropy alone.
Arthur EddingtonRead
A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us. This reservoir can scarcely be other than the subatomic energy which, it is known exists abundantly in all matter; we sometimes dream that man will one day learn how to release it and use it for his service. The store is well nigh inexhaustible, if only it could be tapped. There is sufficient in the Sun to maintain its output of heat for 15 billion years.
Arthur EddingtonRead
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