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Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an
inference Inferences are steps in logical reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word '' infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinct ...
or an
argument An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persu ...
from one particular to another particular, as opposed to deduction, induction, and abduction. It is also used where at least one of the premises, or the conclusion, is general rather than particular in nature. It has the general form ''A is to B as C is to D''. In a broader sense, analogical reasoning is a cognitive process of transferring some
information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...
or meaning of a particular subject (the analog, or source) onto another (the target); and also the
linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
expression corresponding to such a process. The term analogy can also refer to the relation between the source and the target themselves, which is often (though not always) a similarity, as in the biological notion of analogy. Analogy plays a significant role in human thought processes. It has been argued that analogy lies at "the core of cognition".


Etymology

The English word ''analogy'' derives from the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
'' analogia'', itself derived from the Greek ''ἀναλογία'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "again", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning"


Models and theories

Analogy plays a significant role in
problem solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...
, as well as
decision making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either ra ...
, argumentation,
perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
, generalization,
memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...
,
creativity Creativity is the ability to form novel and valuable Idea, ideas or works using one's imagination. Products of creativity may be intangible (e.g. an idea, scientific theory, Literature, literary work, musical composition, or joke), or a physica ...
,
invention An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...
, prediction,
emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...
, explanation, conceptualization and
communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...
. It lies behind basic tasks such as the identification of places, objects and people, for example, in face perception and facial recognition systems. Hofstadter has argued that analogy is "the core of cognition". An analogy is not a
figure of speech A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or Denotation, literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, et ...
but a kind of thought. Specific analogical language uses exemplification, comparisons,
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
s, similes,
allegories As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...
, and parables, but ''not''
metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word " suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as sales ...
. Phrases like ''and so on'', ''and the like'', ''as if'', and the very word '' like'' also rely on an analogical understanding by the receiver of a
message A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to co ...
including them. Analogy is important not only in ordinary language and common sense (where
proverb A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...
s and
idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a Literal and figurative language, figurative or non-literal meaning (linguistic), meaning, rather than making any literal sense. Categorized as formulaic speech, formulaic ...
s give many examples of its application) but also in
science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
,
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, law and the
humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...
. The concepts of association, comparison, correspondence,
mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and morphological homology, homomorphism,
iconicity In functional- cognitive linguistics, as well as in semiotics, iconicity is the conceived similarity or analogy between the form of a sign (linguistic or otherwise) and its meaning, as opposed to arbitrariness (which is typically assumed i ...
,
isomorphism In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping or morphism between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between the ...
, metaphor, resemblance, and similarity are closely related to analogy. In cognitive linguistics, the notion of conceptual metaphor may be equivalent to that of analogy. Analogy is also a basis for any comparative arguments as well as experiments whose results are transmitted to objects that have been not under examination (e.g., experiments on rats when results are applied to humans). Analogy has been studied and discussed since
classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...
by philosophers, scientists, theologists and lawyers. The last few decades have shown a renewed interest in analogy, most notably in cognitive science.


Development

*
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
identified analogy in works such as
Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
and Nicomachean Ethics * Roman lawyers used analogical reasoning and the Greek word ''analogia''. * In Islamic logic, analogical reasoning was used for the process of qiyas in Islamic sharia law and
fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica
''Fiqh'' is of ...
jurisprudence. * Medieval lawyers distinguished '' analogia legis'' and '' analogia iuris'' (see below). * The
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
saw an increased use and theorization of analogy. * In Christian scholastic
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
, analogical arguments were accepted in order to explain the attributes of
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
. ** Aquinas made a distinction between ''equivocal'', ''univocal'' and ''analogical'' terms, the last being those like ''healthy'' that have different but related meanings. Not only a person can be "healthy", but also the food that is good for health (see the contemporary distinction between polysemy and
homonymy In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; ''homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or ''homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciatio ...
). ** Thomas Cajetan wrote an influential treatise on analogy. In all of these cases, the wide Platonic and Aristotelian notion of analogy was preserved. Cajetan named several kinds of analogy that had been used but previously unnamed, particularly: * Analogy of attribution (''analogia attributionis'') or improper proportionality, e.g., "This food is healthy." * Analogy of proportionality (''analogia proportionalitatis'') or proper proportionality, e.g., "2 is to 1 as 4 is to 2", or "the goodness of humans is relative to their essence as the goodness of God is relative to God's essence." *
Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
, e.g., steely determination.


Identity of relation

In ancient Greek the word ''αναλογια'' (''analogia'') originally meant proportionality, in the mathematical sense, and it was indeed sometimes translated to
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
as ''proportio''. Analogy was understood as identity of relation between any two ordered pairs, whether of mathematical nature or not. Analogy and
abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...
are different cognitive processes, and analogy is often an easier one. This analogy is not comparing ''all'' the properties between a hand and a foot, but rather comparing the ''relationship'' between a hand and its palm to a foot and its sole. While a hand and a foot have many dissimilarities, the analogy focuses on their similarity in having an inner surface. The same notion of analogy was used in the US-based SAT college admission tests, that included "analogy questions" in the form "A is to B as C is to ''what''?" For example, "Hand is to palm as foot is to ____?" These questions were usually given in the Aristotelian format: HAND : PALM : : FOOT : ____ While most competent English speakers will immediately give the right answer to the analogy question (''sole''), it is more difficult to identify and describe the exact relation that holds both between pairs such as ''hand'' and ''palm'', and between ''foot'' and ''sole''. This relation is not apparent in some lexical definitions of ''palm'' and ''sole'', where the former is defined as ''the inner surface of the hand'', and the latter as ''the underside of the foot''. Kant's '' Critique of Judgment'' held to this notion of analogy, arguing that there can be exactly the same relation between two completely different objects.


Shared abstraction

Greek philosophers such as
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
and
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
used a wider notion of analogy. They saw analogy as a shared abstraction.Shelley 2003 Analogous objects did not share necessarily a relation, but also an idea, a pattern, a regularity, an attribute, an effect or a philosophy. These authors also accepted that comparisons, metaphors and "images" (allegories) could be used as
argument An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persu ...
s, and sometimes they called them ''analogies''. Analogies should also make those abstractions easier to understand and give confidence to those who use them. James Francis Ross in ''Portraying Analogy'' (1982), the first substantive examination of the topic since Cajetan's ''De Nominum Analogia'', demonstrated that analogy is a systematic and universal feature of natural languages, with identifiable and law-like characteristics which explain how the meanings of words in a sentence are interdependent.


Special case of induction

Ibn Taymiyya,, pp. 16–36
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
and later
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...
argued that analogy is simply a special case of induction. In their view, analogy is an inductive inference from common known attributes to another
probable Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning Event (probability theory), events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probab ...
common attribute, which is known about only in the source of the analogy, in the following form: ;Premises :''a'' is C, D, E, F, G : ''b'' is C, D, E, F ;Conclusion : ''b'' is probably G.


Shared structure

Contemporary cognitive scientists use a wide notion of analogy, extensionally close to that of Plato and Aristotle, but framed by Gentner's (1983) structure-mapping theory. The same idea of mapping between source and target is used by conceptual metaphor and conceptual blending theorists. Structure mapping theory concerns both
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
and
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
. According to this view, analogy depends on the mapping or alignment of the elements of source and target. The mapping takes place not only between objects, but also between relations of objects and between relations of relations. The whole mapping yields the assignment of a predicate or a relation to the target. Structure mapping theory has been applied and has found considerable confirmation in
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
. It has had reasonable success in computer science and artificial intelligence (see below). Some studies extended the approach to specific subjects, such as
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
and similarity.


Applications and types


Logic

Logicians analyze how analogical reasoning is used in arguments from analogy. An analogy can be stated using ''is to'' and ''as'' when representing the analogous relationship between two pairs of expressions, for example, "Smile is to mouth, as wink is to eye." In the field of mathematics and logic, this can be formalized with colon notation to represent the relationships, using single colon for ratio, and double colon for equality. In the field of testing, the colon notation of ratios and equality is often borrowed, so that the example above might be rendered, "Smile : mouth :: wink : eye" and pronounced the same way.


Linguistics

In
historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also known as diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of how languages change over time. It seeks to understand the nature and causes of linguistic change and to trace the evolution of languages. Historical li ...
and word formation, analogy is the process that alters words-forms perceived as breaking rules or ignoring general patterns to more typical forms that follow them. For example, the English
verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...
'' help'' once had the simple past-tense form ''holp'' and the
past participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
form ''holpen''. These older forms have now been discarded and replaced by ''helped'', which came about through the analogy that many other past-tense forms use the ''-ed'' ending (''jumped'', ''carried'', ''defeated'', etc.). This is called morphological leveling. Analogies do not always lead to words shifting to fit rules; sometimes, they can also leading to the breaking of rules; one example is the
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
past tense form of '' dive'': ''dove'', formed on analogy with words such as ''drive'' to ''drove'' or ''strive'' to ''strove''. *
Neologisms In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
(new words) can also be formed by analogy with existing words. A good example is ''
software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...
'', formed by analogy with '' hardware''; other analogous neologisms such as ''
firmware In computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...
'' and '' vapourware'' have followed. Another example is the humorous term ''underwhelm'', formed by analogy with ''overwhelm''. * Some people present analogy as an alternative to generative ''rules'' for explaining the productive formation of structures such as words. Others argue that they are in fact the same and that rules are analogies that have essentially become standard parts of the linguistic system, whereas clearer cases of analogy have simply not (yet) done so (e.g. Langacker 1987.445–447). This view agrees with the current views of analogy in cognitive science which are discussed above. Analogy is also a term used in the Neogrammarian school of thought as a catch-all to describe any morphological change in a language that cannot be explained merely sound change or borrowing.


Science

Analogies are mainly used as a means of creating new ideas and hypotheses, or testing them, which is called a heuristic function of analogical reasoning. Analogical arguments can also be probative, meaning that they serve as a means of proving the rightness of particular theses and theories. This application of analogical reasoning in science is debatable. Analogy can help prove important theories, especially in those kinds of science in which logical or
empirical Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law. There is no general agreement on how t ...
proof is not possible such as
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
,
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
or
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
when it relates to those areas of the cosmos (the universe) that are beyond any data-based observation and knowledge about them stems from the human insight and thinking outside the senses. Analogy can be used in theoretical and applied sciences in the form of models or simulations which can be considered as strong indications of probable correctness. Other, much weaker, analogies may also assist in understanding and describing nuanced or key functional behaviours of systems that are otherwise difficult to grasp or prove. For instance, an analogy used in physics textbooks compares electrical circuits to hydraulic circuits. Another example is the analogue ear based on electrical, electronic or mechanical devices.


Mathematics

Some types of analogies can have a precise
mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
formulation through the concept of
isomorphism In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping or morphism between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between the ...
. In detail, this means that if two mathematical structures are of the same type, an analogy between them can be thought of as a
bijection In mathematics, a bijection, bijective function, or one-to-one correspondence is a function between two sets such that each element of the second set (the codomain) is the image of exactly one element of the first set (the domain). Equival ...
which preserves some or all of the relevant structure. For example, \mathbb^2 and \mathbb are isomorphic as vector spaces, but the complex numbers, \mathbb , have more structure than \mathbb^2 does: \mathbb is a field as well as a
vector space In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set (mathematics), set whose elements, often called vector (mathematics and physics), ''vectors'', can be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called sc ...
.
Category theory Category theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations. It was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Category theory ...
takes the idea of mathematical analogy much further with the concept of
functor In mathematics, specifically category theory, a functor is a Map (mathematics), mapping between Category (mathematics), categories. Functors were first considered in algebraic topology, where algebraic objects (such as the fundamental group) ar ...
s. Given two categories C and D, a functor ''f'' from C to D can be thought of as an analogy between C and D, because ''f'' has to map objects of C to objects of D and arrows of C to arrows of D in such a way that the structure of their respective parts is preserved. This is similar to the structure mapping theory of analogy of Dedre Gentner, because it formalises the idea of analogy as a function which makes certain conditions true.


Artificial intelligence

A computer algorithm has achieved human-level performance on multiple-choice analogy questions from the SAT test. The algorithm measures the similarity of relations between pairs of words (e.g., the similarity between the pairs HAND:PALM and FOOT:SOLE) by statistically analysing a large collection of text. It answers SAT questions by selecting the choice with the highest relational similarity. The analogical reasoning in the human mind is free of the false inferences plaguing conventional
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
models, (called ''systematicity''). Steven Phillips and William H. Wilson use
category theory Category theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations. It was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Category theory ...
to mathematically demonstrate how such reasoning could arise naturally by using relationships between the internal arrows that keep the internal structures of the categories rather than the mere relationships between the objects (called "representational states"). Thus, the mind, and more intelligent AIs, may use analogies between domains whose internal structures transform naturally and reject those that do not. Keith Holyoak and Paul Thagard (1997) developed their multiconstraint theory within structure mapping theory. They defend that the " coherence" of an analogy depends on structural consistency, semantic similarity and purpose. Structural consistency is the highest when the analogy is an
isomorphism In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping or morphism between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between the ...
, although lower levels can be used as well. Similarity demands that the mapping connects similar elements and relationships between source and target, at any level of abstraction. It is the highest when there are identical relations and when connected elements have many identical attributes. An analogy achieves its purpose if it helps solve the problem at hand. The multiconstraint theory faces some difficulties when there are multiple sources, but these can be overcome. Hummel and Holyoak (2005) recast the multiconstraint theory within a neural network architecture. A problem for the multiconstraint theory arises from its concept of similarity, which, in this respect, is not obviously different from analogy itself. Computer applications demand that there are some ''identical'' attributes or relations at some level of abstraction. The model was extended (Doumas, Hummel, and Sandhofer, 2008) to learn relations from unstructured examples (providing the only current account of how symbolic representations can be learned from examples). Mark Keane and Brayshaw (1988) developed their ''Incremental Analogy Machine'' (IAM) to include working memory constraints as well as structural, semantic and pragmatic constraints, so that a subset of the base analogue is selected and mapping from base to target occurs in series. Empirical evidence shows that humans are better at using and creating analogies when the information is presented in an order where an item and its analogue are placed together. Eqaan Doug and his team challenged the shared structure theory and mostly its applications in computer science. They argue that there is no clear line between
perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
, including high-level perception, and analogical thinking. In fact, analogy occurs not only after, but also before and at the same time as high-level perception. In high-level perception, humans make representations by selecting relevant information from low-level stimuli. Perception is necessary for analogy, but analogy is also necessary for high-level perception. Chalmers et al. concludes that analogy actually is high-level perception. Forbus et al. (1998) claim that this is only a metaphor. It has been argued (Morrison and Dietrich 1995) that Hofstadter's and Gentner's groups do not defend opposite views, but are instead dealing with different aspects of analogy.


Anatomy

In
anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...
, two anatomical structures are considered to be ''analogous'' when they serve similar functions but are not
evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
arily related, such as the legs of
vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...
s and the legs of
insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
s. Analogous structures are the result of independent evolution and should be contrasted with structures which shared an evolutionary line.


Engineering

Often a physical
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
is built to model and represent some other physical object. For example, wind tunnels are used to test scale models of wings and aircraft which are analogous to (correspond to) full-size wings and aircraft. For example, the MONIAC (an analogue computer) used the flow of water in its pipes as an analogue to the flow of money in an economy.


Cybernetics

Where two or more biological or physical participants meet, they communicate and the stresses produced describe internal models of the participants. Pask in his conversation theory asserts an analogy that describes both similarities and differences between any pair of the participants' internal models or concepts exists.


History

In historical science, comparative historical analysis often uses the concept of analogy and analogical reasoning. Recent methods involving calculation operate on large document archives, allowing for analogical or corresponding terms from the past to be found as a response to random questions by users (e.g., Myanmar - Burma) and explained.


Morality

Analogical reasoning plays a very important part in
morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...
. This may be because morality is supposed to be impartial and fair. If it is wrong to do something in a situation A, and situation B corresponds to A in all related features, then it is also wrong to perform that action in situation B. Moral particularism accepts such reasoning, instead of deduction and induction, since only the first can be used regardless of any moral principles.


Psychology


Structure mapping theory

Structure mapping, originally proposed by Dedre Gentner, is a theory in psychology that describes the psychological processes involved in reasoning through, and learning from, analogies. More specifically, this theory aims to describe how familiar knowledge, or knowledge about a base domain, can be used to inform an individual's understanding of a less familiar idea, or a target domain. According to this theory, individuals view their knowledge of ideas, or domains, as interconnected structures. In other words, a domain is viewed as consisting of objects, their properties, and the relationships that characterise their interactions. The process of analogy then involves: # Recognising similar structures between the base and target domains. # Finding deeper similarities by mapping other relationships of a base domain to the target domain. # Cross-checking those findings against existing knowledge of the target domain. In general, it has been found that people prefer analogies where the two systems correspond highly to each other (e.g. have similar relationships across the domains as opposed to just having similar objects across domains) when these people try to compare and contrast the systems. This is also known as the systematicity principle. An example that has been used to illustrate structure mapping theory comes from Gentner and Gentner (1983) and uses the base domain of flowing water and the target domain of electricity. In a system of flowing water, the water is carried through pipes and the rate of water flow is determined by the pressure of the water towers or hills. This relationship corresponds to that of electricity flowing through a circuit. In a circuit, the electricity is carried through wires and the current, or rate of flow of electricity, is determined by the voltage, or electrical pressure. Given the similarity in structure, or structural alignment, between these domains, structure mapping theory would predict that relationships from one of these domains, would be inferred in the other using analogy.


= Children

= Children do not always need prompting to make comparisons in order to learn abstract relationships. Eventually, children undergo a relational shift, after which they begin seeing similar relations across different situations instead of merely looking at matching objects. This is critical in their cognitive development as continuing to focus on specific objects would reduce children's ability to learn abstract patterns and reason analogically. Interestingly, some researchers have proposed that children's basic brain functions (i.e., working memory and inhibitory control) do not drive this relational shift. Instead, it is driven by their relational knowledge, such as having labels for the objects that make the relationships clearer(see previous section). However, there is not enough evidence to determine whether the relational shift is actually because basic brain functions become better or relational knowledge becomes deeper. Additionally, research has identified several factors that may increase the likelihood that a child may spontaneously engage in comparison and learn an abstract relationship, without the need for prompts. Comparison is more likely when the objects to be compared are close together in space and/or time, are highly similar (although not so similar that they match, which interfere with identifying relationships), or share common labels.


Law

In law, analogy is a method of resolving issues on which there is no previous authority. The legal use of analogy is distinguished by the need to use a legally relevant basis for drawing an analogy between two situations. It may be applied to various forms of legal authority, including
statutory law A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wi ...
and
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of ...
. In the civil law tradition, analogy is most typically used for filling gaps in a statutory scheme. In the
common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
tradition, it is most typically used for extending the scope of
precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...
. The use of analogy in both traditions is broadly described by the traditional maxim (where the reason is the same, the law is the same).


Teaching strategies

Analogies as defined in rhetoric are a comparison between words, but an analogy more generally can also be used to illustrate and teach. To enlighten pupils on the relations between or within certain concepts, items or phenomena, a teacher may refer to other concepts, items or phenomena that pupils are more familiar with. It may help to create or clarify one theory (or theoretical model) via the workings of another theory (or theoretical model). Thus an analogy, as used in teaching, would be comparing a topic that students are already familiar with, with a new topic that is being introduced, so that students can get a better understanding of the new topic by relating back to existing knowledge. This can be particularly helpful when the analogy serves across different disciplines: indeed, there are various teaching innovations now emerging that use sight-based analogies for teaching and research across subjects such as science and the humanities.


Religion


Catholicism

The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 taught: ''For between creator and creature there can be noted no similarity so great that a greater dissimilarity cannot be seen between them.'' The theological exploration of this subject is called the '' analogia entis''. The consequence of this theory is that all true statements concerning God (excluding the concrete details of Jesus' earthly life) are rough analogies, without implying any falsehood. Such analogical and true statements would include ''God is'', ''God is Love'', ''God is a consuming fire'', ''God is near to all who call him'', or God as Trinity, where ''being'', ''love'', ''fire'', ''distance'', ''number'' must be classed as analogies that allow human cognition of what is infinitely beyond positive or negative language. The use of theological statements in syllogisms must take into account their analogical essence, in that every analogy breaks down when stretched beyond its intended meaning.


Doctrine of the Trinity

In traditional Christian doctrine, the Trinity is a Mystery of Faith that has been revealed, not something obvious or derivable from first principles or found in any thing in the created world. Because of this, the use of analogies to understand the Trinity is common and perhaps necessary. The Trinity is a combination of the words “tri,” meaning “three,” and “unity,” meaning “one.” The “Threeness” refers to the persons of the Trinity, while the “Oneness” refers to substance or being. Medieval
Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...
monk Bernard of Clairveaux used the analogy of a kiss: Many analogies have been used to explain the Trinity, however, all analogies fail when taken too far. Examples of these are the analogies that state that the Trinity is like water and its different states (solid, liquid, gas) or like an egg with its different parts (shell, yolk, and egg white). However, these analogies, if taken too far, could teach the heresies of modalism (water states) and partialism (parts of egg), which are contrary to the Christian understanding of the Trinity. Other analogies exist. The analogy of notes of a chord, say C major, is a sufficient analogy for the Trinity. The notes C, E, and G individually fill the whole of the “heard” space, but when all notes come together, we have a homogenized sound within the same space with distinctive, equal notes. One more analogy used is one that uses the mythological dog, Cerberus, that guards the gates of Hades. While the dog itself is a single organism—speaking to its substance—Cerberus has different centers of awareness due to its three heads, each of which has the same dog nature.


Protestantism

In some Protestant theology, "analogy" may itself be used analogously in terms, more in a sense of "rule" or "exemplar": for example the concept " analogia fidei" has been proposed as an alternative to the concept '' analogia entis'' but named analogously.


Islam

Islamic jurisprudence makes ample use of analogy as a means of making conclusions from outside sources of law. The bounds and rules employed to make analogical deduction vary greatly between
madhhab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni Islam, Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi school, Hanafi, Maliki school, Maliki, Shafi'i school, Shafi'i and Hanbali school, Hanbali. They ...
s and to a lesser extent individual scholars. It is nonetheless a generally accepted source of law within jurisprudential epistemology, with the chief opposition to it forming the dhahiri (ostensiblist) school.


See also

* Argumentum a contrario * Argumentum a fortiori * Case-based reasoning * Casuistry * Commonsense reasoning * Conceptual blending * Duck test * False analogy * Hypocatastasis * I know it when I see it * Intuitive statistics *
Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
* Parable * Sensemaking


Notes


References

* Cajetan, Tommaso De Vio, (1498), ''De Nominum Analogia'', P.N. Zammit (ed.), 1934, ''The Analogy of Names'', Koren, Henry J. and Bushinski, Edward A (trans.), 1953, Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press. * Chalmers, D.J. et al. (1991). Chalmers, D.J., French, R.M., Hofstadter, D.
High-Level Perception, Representation, and Analogy
* Coelho, Ivo (2010). "Analogy." ACPI Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Johnson J. Puthenpurackal. Bangalore: ATC. 1:64-68. * Doumas, L. A. A., Hummel, J.E., and Sandhofer, C. (2008)
A Theory of the Discovery and Predication of Relational Concepts.
Psychological Review, 115, 1-43. * * Forbus, K. et al. (1998)
Analogy just looks like high-level perception
* Gentner, D. (1983)
Structure-mapping: A theoretical framework for analogy.
Cognitive Science, 7, 155–170. (Reprinted in A. Collins & E. E. Smith (Eds.), Readings in cognitive science: A perspective from psychology and artificial intelligence. Palo Alto, CA: Kaufmann). * Gentner, D., Holyoak, K.J., Kokinov, B. (Eds.) (2001)
The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science.
Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, * Hofstadter, D. (2001)

in Dedre Gentner, Keith Holyoak, and Boicho Kokinov (eds.) The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001, pp. 499–538. * Holland, J.H., Holyoak, K.J., Nisbett, R.E., and Thagard, P. (1986)
Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery
Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, . * Holyoak, K.J., and Thagard, P. (1995)
Mental Leaps: Analogy in Creative Thought
Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, . * Holyoak, K.J., and Thagard, P. (1997)

* Hummel, J.E., and Holyoak, K.J. (2005)
Relational Reasoning in a Neurally Plausible Cognitive Architecture
* Itkonen, E. (2005). Analogy as Structure and Process. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. * Juthe, A. (2005)
"Argument by Analogy"
in Argumentation (2005) 19: 1–27. * * * Lamond, G. (2006)
Precedent and Analogy in Legal Reasoning
in
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') is a freely available online philosophy resource published and maintained by Stanford University, encompassing both an online encyclopedia of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication ...
. * Langacker, Ronald W. (1987). Foundations of Cognitive grammar. Vol. I, Theoretical prerequisites. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * * * Melandri, Enzo. La linea e il circolo. Studio logico-filosofico sull'analogia (1968), Quodlibet, Macerata 2004 prefazione di Giorgio Agamben. * Morrison, C., and Dietrich, E. (1995)
Structure-Mapping vs. High-level Perception
* Pessali, H.; Dalto, F. and Fernández, R. (2015).
Analogies we suffer by: the case of the state as a household
''. In: Tae-Hee Jo; Zdravka Todorova (Org.). ''Advancing the Frontiers of Heterodox Economics: Essays in Honor of Frederic S. Lee''. Nova Iorque: Routledge, p. 281-295. * Perelman, Ch, Olbrechts-Tyteca, L. (1969), The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation, Notre Dame 1969. * Ross, J.F., (1982), ''Portraying Analogy''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * * * Ross, J.F., (1958), ''A Critical Analysis of the Theory of Analogy of St Thomas Aquinas'', (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms Inc). * Shelley, C. (2003). Multiple analogies in Science and Philosophy. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. * *


External links

{{Wikiquote
''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
"Analogy and Analogical Reasoning", by Paul Bartha.
''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
"Medieval Theories of Analogy", by E. Jennifer Ashworth.
''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
"Precedent and Analogy in Legal Reasoning", by Grant Lamond. *
Dictionary of the History of Ideas
' Analogy in Early Greek Thought. *
Dictionary of the History of Ideas
' Analogy in Patristic and Medieval Thought. *
Computational approaches to computing temporal analogy
'. Conceptual modelling Philosophical arguments Semantics