The Ethical Boundary Between Science and Mathematics: Why Misusing Scientific Terminology Harms Public Understanding

This paper argues that the distinction between scientific knowledge and mathematical knowledge is not merely methodological but ethical. Scientific knowledge arises from the scientific method: the construction of a mental model followed by empirical testing against reality. Mathematics, by contrast, is a formal, non-empirical discipline concerned with logical derivation. When mathematicians, philosophers, or ideological groups use scientific terminology—such as “experiment,” “prediction,” or “model validation”—without adhering to empirical testing, they blur the boundary between science and non-science. This linguistic slippage contributes to public confusion, weakens scientific literacy, and enables pseudoscientific or religious claims to masquerade as scientific. I argue that the integrity of science depends on strict conceptual clarity, and that experts have an ethical responsibility to protect the meaning of scientific terms.