Physics Envy
A critique of disciplines like economics, sociology, or psychology for chasing the mathematical precision and predictive power of physics, often at the cost of oversimplifying their own subject matter.
EverydayConcepts.io
Origin
Biologist Joel E. Cohen coined the term in a 1971 book review in Science, writing "Physics-envy is the curse of biology." The aspiration itself dates back to Auguste Comte's 19th-century vision of sociology as "social physics." Nobel laureate Wassily Leontief warned against the trend in economics during the 1970s, and it has since become a recurring theme in debates over methodology in the social and biological sciences.
Updated February 22, 2026