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The '''map–territory relation''' is the relationship between an object and a representation of that [[Object (philosophy)|object]], as in the relation between a geographical territory and a [[map]] of it. '''Mistaking the map for the territory''' is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone confuses the semantics of a term with what it represents. Polish-American scientist and philosopher [[Alfred Korzybski]] remarked that "the map is not the territory" and that "the word is not the thing", encapsulating his view that an [[abstraction]] derived from something, or a reaction to it, is not the thing itself. Korzybski held that many people do confuse maps with territories, that is, confuse [[conceptual model]]s of reality with reality itself. These ideas are crucial to [[general semantics]], a system Korzybski originated.
The relationship has also been expressed in other terms, such as "the model is not the data", "[[all models are wrong]]", and [[Alan Watts]]' "The menu is not the meal." The concept is thus quite relevant throughout [[ontology]] and [[ontology (information science)|applied ontology]] regardless of any connection to [[general semantics]] per se (or absence thereof). Its avatars are thus encountered in [[semantics]], [[statistics]], [[logistics]], [[business administration]], [[semiotics]], and many other applications.
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