Kosso, Peter - Appearance and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics

Bohr's assessment of the task and the abilities of physics can be put bluntly in terms of appearance and reality. It is wrong, he claims, to think that physics allows us to know the reality of nature. Physics can tell us only how nature appears.

The distinction is important, since appearance, the human account of things, is unavoidably influenced by our own perspective and preconceptions.