Physics is often described as the search for objective truth: to uncover the fundamental structure of the universe. Its models — equations, geometries, field theories — are treated as mirrors of reality, or at least as approximations that converge toward the real.
But from a relational ontology, this representational view of models becomes problematic. Physics doesn’t reveal reality as it is — it offers systemic construals: coherent patterns that organise potential for action, measurement, and meaning within particular relational constraints.
1. From Representation to Construal
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A model is not a mirror of the world but a structured construal — a system of meaning that frames what is possible and intelligible,
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Equations and diagrams are perspectival artefacts, shaped by what we choose to treat as entities, variables, and interactions,
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There is no “view from nowhere” — all modelling involves positionality and selection.
2. What a Theory Is: A System of Potential
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In relational terms, a theory is a system of constrained potential: a framework that delimits what kinds of phenomena can be brought forth,
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Models do not describe things, but enable transitions — they coordinate behaviour across contexts by stabilising coherence,
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The success of a model doesn’t prove its truth, but reflects the robustness of its affordances within particular regimes.
3. Limits of Formalism
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Formal systems are powerful tools for constructing internal consistency,
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But they are always anchored in choices of perspective: what is held constant, what is allowed to vary,
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No model — however mathematically complete — escapes the relational nature of construal.
4. The Real as That Which Resists
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Reality is not what the model captures, but what constrains the model’s coherence,
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Models fail when their assumptions no longer afford stable construals — and this failure is how reality shows itself,
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The model is not a window onto the real, but a negotiation with the real through the tensions of constraint.
Closing
Physics is not uncovering the furniture of the universe. It is staging fields of intelligibility — constructing systems that coordinate interaction, explanation, and action.
What makes a theory powerful is not that it represents reality, but that it operates effectively under constraint — that it enables systemic coordination across domains without collapsing into contradiction.
In the next post, we will turn to the role of measurement — not as the reading of a pre-existing property, but as a punctualisation of potential within a relational field.
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