“The first and most important quality of all scientific ways of thinking must be the clear distinction between the outer object of observation and the subjective nature of the observer.”

Where is science going? The Universe in the light of modern physics. (1932)

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Max Planck30

German theoretical physicist 1858–1947

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“Where conscious subjectivity is concerned, there is no distinction between the observation and the thing observed.”

John Rogers Searle (1932) American philosopher

The Rediscovery of the Mind, p. 97, MIT Press (1992) ISBN 0-262-69154-X.

“The distinction, between what is done by labour, and what is done by nature, is not always observed.”

James Mill (1773–1836) Scottish historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher

'Labour produces its effects only by conspiring with the laws of nature.'<br>It is found that the agency of man can be traced to very simple elements. He does nothing but produce motion. He can move things towards one another, and he can separate them from one another. The properties of matter perform the rest. <br class="br"> Ch 1 : Production https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/mill-james/ch01.htm <br class="br">Elements of Political Economy (1821)

“Observation is the generative act in scientific discovery. For all its aberrations, the evidence of the senses is essentially to be relied upon—provided we observe nature as a child does, without prejudices and preconceptions, but with that clear and candid vision which adults lose and scientists must strive to regain.”

Peter Medawar (1915–1987) scientist

Medawar, Peter (1982). Pluto's Republic, p. 99. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1980s

“The activity of observing establishes a distinction in a space that remains unmarked, the space from which the observer executes the distinction. The observer must employ a distinction in order to generate the difference between unmarked and marked space, and between himself and what he indicates. The whole point of this distinction (its intention) is to mark something as distinct from something else. At the same time, the observer — in drawing a distinction - makes himself visable to others. He betrays his presence - even if a further distinction is required to distinguish him.”

Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998) German sociologist, administration expert, and social systems theorist

Source: Art As a Social System (2000), p. 54 as cited in: Pamela M. Lee (2004) Chronophobia: On Time in the Art of the 1960's. p. 66.

“If two objects or human beings show similar behaviour in all their relevant aspects open to observation, the assumption of some unobservable hidden difference between them must be regarded as a completely gratuitous hypothesis and one contrary to sound scientific method.”

John Harsanyi (1920–2000) hungarian economist

Harsanyi, J. C. (1955). "Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility". J. Polit. Economy 63 (4): p. 317

“This observation might be repeated with regard to all objects of the outer world which enter into relation with us. Whether the knowledge of them be of the common-place or of a scientific order matters little. Sensation is its limit, and all objects are known to us by the sensations they produce in us, and are known to us solely in this manner. A landscape is nothing but a cluster of sensations. The outward form of a body is simply sensation; and the innermost and most delicate material structure, the last visible elements of a cell, for example, are all, in so far as we observe them with the microscope, nothing but sensation.”

Alfred Binet (1857–1911) French psychologist and inventor of the first usable intelligence test

Source: The Mind and the Brain, 1907, p. 13-14

“Man is not the source of all things, as the subjective idealists would say. Nor is he the passive observer of all things, as the objective idealists and materialists would say. The Quality which creates the world emerges as a relationship between man and his experience. He is a participant in the creation of all things. The measure of all things—it fits.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 29

“All our scientific observations of the universe and quanta can only, in the end, be observations of ourselves.”

Alan Moore (1953) English writer primarily known for his work in comic books

De Abaitua interview (1998)

“Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 694.

“Objectivity is a subject's delusion that observing can be done without him. Involving objectivity is abrogating responsibility – hence its popularity.”

Heinz von Foerster (1911–2002) Austrian American scientist and cybernetician

Heinz von Foerster cited in: Bernhard Poerksen (2004). The Certainty of Uncertainty: Dialogues Introducing Constructivism. p.3
2000s and attributed from posthumous publications

“The first and most important quality of all scientific ways of thinking must be the clear distinction between the outer object of observation and the subjective nature of the observer.”

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Max Planck30

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