The Foundation

Misconcepts is built on a single foundational “assumption” that allows the system to be both practical and universal in scope.

Understanding this foundation and the justification for it will yield the highest ROI from engaging with the framework as you can critically evaluate the single “leap of faith” you take when implementing Misconcepts.

To improve our mental models in a systematic and prioritized way, we first need to understand what knowledge is and how it grows – this is where epistemology comes in.

Epistemology is the study of what knowledge is and how it grows. Misconcepts adopts Critical Rationalism, an epistemological framework pioneered by Karl Popper and developed further by David Deutsch, as its foundational assumption.

Critical Rationalism is the best explanation of knowledge we currently know of. While it is not final or complete, it is uniquely powerful: practical, explanatory, and universal.

Its core principles are:

• All knowledge is fallible: No explanation is ever final or free from error. Every idea, no matter how well established, can be improved. This encourages intellectual humility and continuous improvement.
• Knowledge grows through conjecture and criticism: People generate creative conjectures to explain phenomena, which are then subjected to rigorous testing via rational criticism. This process, error correction, is how knowledge improves over time.
• Good explanations: Explanations that reliably account for phenomena, survive criticism, and are hard to vary are most useful. They allow us to solve problems effectively. Better explanations have fewer errors, correlate more closely with reality, and can solve problems that worse explanations cannot.
• Fit-for-purpose adoption: The best explanation we have is not always adopted en masse. Often, the simplest explanation that reliably solves a problem is preferable. Only when that explanation fails do we need a more complex, better one (e.g., Newtonian physics vs. general relativity).
• Universality: These principles apply across all domains – science, technology, morality, economics, and personal life.
• Non-dogmatic: Critical Rationalism itself is open to criticism and improvement. There are no hidden assumptions; the framework is always subject to refinement.

While we will not explore all the details or nuances of Critical Rationalism in this book, this high-level understanding is sufficient to understand the link between Misconcepts and Rational Criticism. Below we touch on other epistemological theories and why they were not adopted.

Other explanations of knowledge are available, these are grouped below with the reasoning of why they were not adopted in Misconcepts:

• Authority-based knowledge depends on social consensus, tradition, or the opinions of perceived experts. While convenient, it is prone to error because authorities can be mistaken, biased, or influenced by power structures. Following authority alone does not guarantee that the knowledge reflects reality.
• Induction draws general conclusions from observed instances. While useful for pattern recognition, it cannot guarantee truth beyond the specific cases observed. The classic problem of induction is that no matter how many times something occurs, we cannot be certain it will always occur, leaving conclusions inherently provisional and vulnerable to exceptions.
• Justificationist approaches attempt to prove knowledge by providing reasons that support beliefs. This risks infinite regress (each reason needs its own supporting reason) or circular reasoning (a belief is justified by itself or by a chain that loops back), ultimately failing to provide a secure foundation for knowledge.
• Relativism claims that truth is relative to individuals, cultures, or contexts. While this can be socially or politically appealing, it denies objective progress: there is no meaningful way to say one explanation is better than another, and improvement of understanding becomes impossible.
• Pragmatism defines truth as “what works for now” or what is practically useful. While action-oriented, this approach can ignore deeper understanding or underlying mechanisms. An idea that “works” may still be partially false or fail in new circumstances, preventing reliable generalization and long-term problem-solving.

Critical Rationalism avoids these pitfalls by focusing on conjectured explanations which are fallible and rational criticism to correct the errors, thus is our current best explanation of knowledge.

The Misconcepts System is named after the core idea: Misconcepts.

Misconcepts are mental models / explanations we hold about the world, with emphasis on fallibility and error correction.

We chose to coin the term Misconcepts rather than use mental models, as it implies the Critical Rationalism foundation every time it is used. It is a constant reminder that knowledge is fallible and knowledge grows via conjecture and criticism.

Misconcepts are the most important thing in our lives as:

1. They determine our internal experience and external results
2. They determine the TWO things we can ever do: Update or Implement Misconcepts

That is to say everything we experience, achieve, and can do all centers around the “flawed” mental models / explanations we hold of the world.

As the foundation of Misconcepts is based on Critical Rationalism we are able to improve what we experience, achieve, and can do by improving our Misconcepts. We improve our Misconcepts via conjecture and criticism, and error correct our way to Misconcepts that reflect reality closer, have more explanatory power, and the ability to solve more problems.