flaws #1

I believe that all our ideas, explanations and theories about the world are flawed, but some are quite useful.
This blog post shall be the first in a series to provide examples and explain my views.
Perhaps long term readers (if there are any) will notice that this is mostly a repeat of previous writings, but I thought it might be interesting to explain them under one theme ...

Many statisticians are familiar with the statement "all models are flawed, some are useful",
and the point of this series is to extend this insight to all our theories, even very basic ideas.

The philosopher Vaihinger, generalizing the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, was one of the first to embrace the insight that our explanations are often inconsistent, but that they are nevertheless useful in many cases and we can treat them "as if" they are correct.
I believe that it is necessary to extend this philosophy of "as if" to all our theories, explanations and ideas.
Perhaps some view this as a pessimistic view of the world and our role in it, but I think it can be liberating too ...

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While I am writing this, I am thinking about my dog.
Does a dog have 'theories' or 'explanations' for his experiences? What 'ideas' does a dog have about the family he lives with or the refrigerator with all this great food inside?
Whatever his 'theories' are, I am sure that they are deeply flawed, even if they are quite useful most of the time.
And perhaps there is even a 'basic idea' similar to 'I bark, therefore I am'.
But my dog would be wrong, because I no longer have a dog ...