A Participatory Universe of J. A. Wheeler as an Intentional Correlate of Embodied Subjects and an Example of Purposiveness in Physics

TL;DR

This paper explores J. A. Wheeler's concept of a Participatory Universe, emphasizing human subjectivity's role in shaping cosmological understanding and the inherent purposiveness in scientific representation.

Contribution

It offers a detailed analysis of Wheeler's participatory universe, highlighting the significance of human agency and teleology in physics and cosmology.

Findings

Human subjectivity is central to universe articulation.

The universe's understanding involves intrinsic purposiveness.

Wheeler's ideas exemplify the role of intentionality in physics.

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of human subjectivity and its delimiters in articulating the universe in physics and cosmology. As a case study, we reflect upon the complex of ideas of the so called Participatory Universe by later J. A. Wheeler. The objective of the paper is to explicate the role of the human agency as a centre of disclosure and manifestation of the universe as well the as teleology of scientific representation of the world implied by the intrinsic purposiveness of human actions.