Quantum theory challenges our classical assumptions about observation and reality. The observer is often seen as external, separate, and passive — a witness to an independently existing world. Yet, the formalism and experiments reveal a deeper entanglement: observer and observed are co-constituted within a relational field.
1. The Classical Subject–Object Divide
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Classical physics assumes a detached observer measuring a system with definite properties,
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This creates a dualism: the “subject” that knows, and the “object” that is known,
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Quantum theory unsettles this by showing that measurement outcomes depend on the interaction between observer and system.
2. Relational Agency and Co-Actualisation
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Observers are not external spectators but participants within the relational field,
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Observing is an active process of co-actualisation — the joint emergence of system and measurement configuration,
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This agency is distributed: no isolated “I” or “you,” but a shared process of relational becoming.
3. Entanglement and Distributed Causality
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Entanglement exemplifies that parts of a system cannot be fully described independently,
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Observers, measuring apparatus, and environment form a coherent system, where effects and causes are nonlocal and distributed,
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Agency is thus not located but patterned across relational configurations.
4. Implications for Objectivity and Knowledge
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Objectivity arises not from separation but from robustness of relational patterns under varied conditions,
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Knowledge is situated, embodied, and participatory,
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Understanding quantum phenomena demands embracing this participatory ontology — where knowing is a form of interaction.
Closing
The observer is not an alien witness but a node in the relational web — a participant in the ongoing process that enacts reality.
Quantum theory invites us to rethink agency, knowledge, and objectivity as emergent from co-creative relations.
Next, we will investigate how this relational participatory perspective influences our understanding of causality in quantum physics.
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