Re: Schroedinger quote

[Tim Folkerts <Tim.Folkerts@valpo.edu>]

> Are you suggesting that Schroedinger meant these words to apply only to
> *males*?  

> > "Every [person's] world picture is and always remains a construct
> > of [their] mind and cannot be proved to have any other existence."
> > --E. Schrodinger in Mind and Matter, 1958.

Yes, it is important to realize what was actually said. And yes, it is 
important to recognize what may (or may not) have been meant.  Striking 
a reasonable balance is always tough.  (We do a similar thing in 
physics when we interpret "old" laws from "modern" perspectives.)


It this particular case, we have the added difficulty that the quote 
was probably in German, in which case the ENTIRE translation should in 
some sense be in brackets.  

It is quite possible that the original quote in Geram is gender 
neutral. A ten minute search on the web couldn't turn up the original, 
so I'll just have to guess.  The Germans have a word "man" that 
translates not as "man" but as "one".  From my couple years of 
college German, it would seem unlikely that the original quote really 
used a word meaning "male person".  It is quite possible the translator 
(before the age of politcal correctness) put it in a form that sounded 
good in English, not in a form most identical to the German.


So, being a good scientist, I say let's look at the data (the original 
quote, which I assume is in German) before arguing the nuances too much.



---   Tim Folkerts


********************************************************
Timothy J. Folkerts               Tim.Folkerts@valpo.edu
Dept. of Physics & Astronomy      219-464-6634
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, IN  46383