Well, if the scientist self-identifies his fundamental beli…

Well, if the scientist self-identifies his fundamental beliefs as models as opposed to faith or truth, he is half way there. The very nature of the concept of models is that they are virtualized, representations, imperfect. The problem is not that most people believe their models are truth. The problem is that most people, scientists included, don't actually consider their fundamental beliefs as models. The "external world out there" idea is considered a fundamental truth, then they believe all models are built on top of that truth. Thats the problem. If you accept that even the most basic, fundamental belief structures are models, it should inevitably make your belief system much more malleable and pragmatic than one based on faith or truth.