Yet, how do we know of the subatomic particle? The agnosticism of numbers are extraordinarily powerful metaphors. You may be thinking of metaphors as something from English class but consider:
A metaphor simply means that it’s equivalent to.
It is a ~
How powerful that is.
Example:
What is a particle?
A particle is a conceptual metaphor based upon a perfect sphere. A sphere is a conceptual metaphor based upon globes, likely the Sun in the sky.
What is an idealization (perfect)? The ideal sphere is a metaphor for spheres; simplified, not containing the complexities but in its perfected metaphorical form, allows us to find even deeper complexities, such as a circle being an infinite series of triangles, also metaphorical constructs. We can draw it on paper to conceptualize it.
What’s an atom? a conceptual sphere.
What subatomic? What happens inside of the sphere.
Is there really a sphere? Or is it a concept? A metaphor? A stand-in for something we cannot directly perceive?