Jackie Trono - Kahler On Science As Model, Not Reality

Erich Kahler regards science as merely modeling the world, not actually depicting reality in The Nature of the Symbol. Referring to the geometrical figures, diagrams, and models of science, Kahler writes,

“In all these kinds of images the instrumental, mediatorial element predominates; none of them is meant actually to represent reality…. A model, being just a modulus, a measure of the real thing, will never permit us to forget its provisional, hypothetical nature; it can never stand for an established reality” (Erich Kahler, The Nature of the Symbol 60).

I find this passage very interesting as it reflects something about which I have often thought. I have considered the concept of science as a religion. Many scientifically minded people take science as unquestionably representing reality. In my opinion, science merely models the world, which is what Kahler argues as well. Science offers us an excellent means of predicting the events of the world, but we will never know that our models actually correspond to reality.

I also found Kahler’s ideas, expressed in a footnote, about the separation between word and meaning rather stimulating. Kahler comments,

“The word and its meaning are independent things. Here is the word – a complex of sounds and signs; there is what it means. The two are separable; each exists by itself, the word without the thing, the thing without the word. The same thing is designated in different languages by different words…” (Kahler 68).

I find it interesting to reflect on language. It appears to be our only tool in navigating the conceptual world, and yet, it is practically useless in performing a physical activity, such as kicking a soccer ball. I may have learned technique from a coach through his spoken instruction, but the actual implementation of the act referenced by those words is beyond language. Curious, indeed!