The Categorial Virus: A General Theory of Projection and Category Confusion in Scientific Practice

This work systematizes, generalizes, and extends the diagnosis of the "categorial error" – identified as the core of the most persistent problems in fundamental physics – into a unified metascientific theory. We argue that this pattern of illegitimate conceptual projection is not a local anomaly, but a structural pathology of mature scientific knowledge, which we term the "categorial virus." Its central mechanism is the triad of reification of successful formal tools, their narrativization into substantial causal stories, and the confusion of theoretical domains. The theory is structured on three levels: (1) Anatomy, where five operative mechanisms of the error are disaggregated; (2) Epidemiology, which analyzes the cognitive, sociological, and historical conditions that propagate it; and (3) Prophylaxis, where a "Protocol of Categorial Hygiene" is proposed as an essential methodological practice. To avoid the trap of self-referentiality – falling into the same error it criticizes – the theory is grounded in a constellation of classical philosophical ideas (from Carnap to Fleck and Kuhn) and validated with evidence external to physics, applying it to domains such as molecular biology, economics, and neuroscience. The conclusion is twofold: first, that contemporary scientific stalemates often mask pseudoproblems generated by this virus; second, that the next necessary revolution is not empirical, but metascientific. Rationality must be redefined as the competence to operate with formal frameworks without reifying them, and mature science must integrate categorial self-criticism into its operational core. This framework offers a toolbox for diagnosing, dissolving, and preventing conceptual obstructions, redirecting investigative energy toward genuine problems.