Thermostats, Context Fields, and Observation Events: Rethinking the "Thermostat as Observer" Analogy
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) February 11, 2026 Veronika Pudsey
The "thermostat as observer" is a recurring motif in philosophy of mind and foundations of physics. We argue, however, that this framing rests on a category mistake — one that generates controversies which resist resolution as long as observation is treated as a property of a device: Where exactly does observerhood begin? What distinguishes an observer from a mere physical process? Our proposal...