umwelt; self-centered world
A technical term in biology and philosophy, referring to the subjective, species-specific perceptual world of an organism. Not used in everyday conversation.
Jakob von Uexküll proposed that each organism has its own umwelt.
Coined as a translation of the German term 'Umwelt' by Jakob von Uexküll. The kanji 環 (ring, environment) and 世界 (world) together convey the idea of an encircling subjective world.