WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN THAT YOU CAN NOT PROVE?MODELA explain how everything is connected, how we should act and what we should and shouldn't do. But do they prevent us form seeing things for what they really are?
As early as the eighteen century, Adam Smith warned against being carried away by a love of abstract systems, and two centuries later Albert Einstein received a Nobel Prize for recognising that models and 'logical system' are ultimately a a matter of faith. The historian of science and philosopher Thomas Kuhn argued that science usually just works towards corroborating its models and reacts with ignorance when, as is often the case- the models do not correspond to reality. This insight may not have earned him a Nobel Prize, but he did land himself a professorship at an elite university.
We often believe so strongly in models that they take on the status of reality. A good example of this is the ontological proof of the existence of god, which Kant explored in his philosophy. He maintained that if we are able to imagine a being as perfect as God, then he must exist. Ways in which we blindly accept models as reality can also be found in our everyday lives. For example, if we are told that humankind is full of greed and egoism, this model of behaviour may be internalised and (unconsciously) Imitated.
I hate reality but it's still the best place to get a good steak
Woody Allen.
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