 But why do models play such a crucial role in the understanding of a subject matter? Elgin (2017) argues that this is not despite, but because, of models being literally false. She views false models as “felicitous falsehoods” that occupy center stage in the epistemology of science, and mentions the ideal-gas model in statistical mechanics and the Hardy–Weinberg model in genetics as examples for literally false models that are central to their respective disciplines. Understanding is holistic and it concerns a topic, a discipline, or a subject matter, rather than isolated claims or facts. Gaining understanding of a context means to have 