Skip to content

Why People Confuse Models and Theories

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

It’s interesting to think about why people confuse models with theories.  I think probably there are two reasons. One is the incredible effectiveness of mathematical theories in the physical and natural sciences and how well they behave, how well they work.  

The second reason is that as a result of trying to apply that sort of approach to the world, people use mathematics.  And mathematics looks incredibly accurate and so you may mistake it for a theory, but it’s really a model.  It’s an analogy that doesn’t have the essential truth of a theory.

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
Related
A bearded man wearing glasses and a plaid shirt speaks with a microphone clipped to his collar in front of a purple background with white dots.
The Well
How Rainn Wilson discovered sacredness
The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
▸
13 min
—
with
Rainn Wilson
Up Next