Editing Erwin Schrödinger (section)

===Interest in philosophy===
Schrödinger had a deep interest in philosophy, and was influenced by the works of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] and [[Baruch Spinoza]]. In his 1956 lecture "Mind and Matter", he said that "The world extended in [[space and time]] is but our [[mental representation|representation]]."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schrödinger |first=Erwin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47010639 |title=What is life? : the physical aspect of the living cell; with Mind and matter; & Autobiographical sketches |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-511-00114-2 |location=Cambridge |oclc=47010639|page=136}}</ref> This is a repetition of the first words of Schopenhauer's main work. Schopenhauer's works also introduced him to [[Indian philosophy]], more specifically to the [[Upanishads]] and [[Advaita Vedanta]]’s interpretation. He once took on a particular line of thought: "If the world is indeed created by our act of observation, there should be billions of such worlds, one for each of us. How come your world and my world are the same? If something happens in my world, does it happen in your world, too? What causes all these worlds to synchronize with each other?".

<blockquote>There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousnesses. Their multiplicity is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads.<ref name="Schrödinger">Schrödinger, Erwin. What is life? Epilogue: On Determinism and Free Will</ref></blockquote>Schrödinger discussed topics such as [[consciousness]], the [[mind–body problem]], [[sense perception]], [[free will]], and [[objective reality]] in his lectures and writings.<ref name="Schrödinger" /><ref>Schrödinger, Erwin.Mind and Matter</ref><ref>Schrödinger, Erwin. My View of the World</ref>

Schrödinger's attitude with respect to the relations between Eastern and Western thought was one of prudence, expressing appreciation for Eastern philosophy while also admitting that some of the ideas did not fit with empirical approaches to natural philosophy.<ref name="Bitbol">{{Cite journal|last=Bitbol|first=Michel|title=Schrödinger and Indian Philosophy|url=http://michel.bitbol.pagesperso-orange.fr/Schrodinger_India.pdf|journal=Cahiers du service culturel de l'ambassade de France en Inde, Allahabad, August 1999|pages=20|access-date=22 January 2022|archive-date=7 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307163951/http://michel.bitbol.pagesperso-orange.fr/Schrodinger_India.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Some commentators have suggested that Schrödinger was so deeply immersed in a non-dualist Vedântic-like view that it may have served as a broad framework or subliminal inspiration for much of his work including that in theoretical physics.<ref name="Bitbol" /> Schrödinger expressed sympathy for the idea of [[tat tvam asi|''Tat Tvam Asi'']], stating "you can throw yourself flat on the ground, stretched out upon [[Mother Nature|Mother Earth]], with the certain conviction that you are one with her and she with you."<ref>Schrödinger, Erwin. ''My View of the World'', chapter iv, and ''What Is life?''</ref>

Schrödinger said that "Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else."<ref>"General Scientific and Popular Papers." In ''Collected Papers'', Vol. 4. Vienna: [[Austrian Academy of Sciences]]. Braunschweig/Wiesbaden: Vieweg & Sohn. p. 334.</ref>

He also anticipated the [[many-worlds interpretation]] of quantum mechanics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deutsch |first=David |author-link=David Deutsch |url=https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Saunders,%20Barry%20-%20Many%20Worlds,%20Everett,Quantum,Theory%20and%20Reality.pdf |title=Many Worlds?: Everett, Quantum Theory, and Reality |date=2010 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-956056-1 |editor-last=Saunders |editor-first=Simon |edition=1 |pages=544 |language=en |chapter=Apart from Universes |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560561.001.0001 |editor-last2=Barrett |editor-first2=Jonathan |editor-last3=Kent |editor-first3=Adrian |editor-last4=Wallace |editor-first4=David}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allori |first1=Valia |last2=Goldstein |first2=Sheldon |last3=Tumulka |first3=Roderich |last4=Zanghì |first4=Nino |date=2011-03-01 |title=Many Worlds and Schrödinger's First Quantum Theory |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/bjps/axp053 |journal=The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science |language=en |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 |arxiv=0903.2211 |doi=10.1093/bjps/axp053 |issn=0007-0882}}</ref> In 1952, he suggested that the different terms of a superposition evolving under the Schrödinger equation are "not alternatives but all really happen simultaneously".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schrödinger |first1=Erwin |title=The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Dublin Seminars (1949–1955) and other unpublished essays |date=1996 |publisher=OxBow Press |editor1-last=Bitbol |editor1-first=Michel}}</ref> Schrödinger's later writings also contain elements resembling the [[modal interpretation]] originated by [[Bas van Fraassen]]. Because Schrödinger subscribed to a kind of post-[[Ernst Mach|Machian]] [[neutral monism]], in which "matter" and "mind" are only different aspects or arrangements of the same common elements, treating the wavefunction as physical and treating it as information became interchangeable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bitbol |first=Michel |author-link=Michel Bitbol |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/851376153 |title=Schrödinger's Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics |date=1996 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=978-94-009-1772-9 |location=Dordrecht |oclc=851376153}}</ref>