interest theory is like Newtonian mechanics

An example of a scientific idea used as a simile:

"...if interest theory [of the social determinants of ideology] has not now the hegemony it once had, it is not so much because it has been proved wrong as because its theoretical apparatus turned out to be too rudimentary to cope with the complexity of the interaction among social, psychological, and cultural factors it itself uncovered. Rather like Newtonian mechanics, it has not been so much displaced by subsequent developments as absorbed into them."

Clifford Geertz (2000) Ideology as a cultural system (first published 1964), in The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays. 2nd Edition. New York. Basic Books

(It is arguable if Newtonian mechanics has been absorbed into subsequent developments. Although classical mechanics works well for most purposes as an instrumental scheme, and the relativistic perspective converges on the Newtonian at limits (e.g., low velocity), the two perspectives are based on completely distinct and incongruous assumptions (e.g., Newton's world view assumed absolute space organised according to Euclidean precepts).

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