The black cat analogy is an

analogy Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ( ...

accounting for the differences between

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, or in some versions also between other disciplines such as

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

Description

The analogy can be described like this: *Philosophy is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat. *Metaphysics is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn't there. *Theology is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn't there, and shouting "I found it!" *Science is like being in a dark room looking for a black cat while using a flashlight. *Social Science is like being in a dark room suspecting from the beginning that there is a black cat somewhere, and emerging from the room with scratches on the forearm as vindication. It can also be applied to other bodies of knowledge or learning, for example by Ernest Gellner to

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

Explanation

Vincent Barry explains the difference between philosophy and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

as lying in the fact that philosophy is scientific and open-minded, concerned with proof, while theologians "have found their final truth" before they begin the search.

Origin

Many variations on the analogy exist, and they have been variously attributed to several famous figures at different times (e.g. misquotations of Charles Darwin), but the quotation has been around since at least the 1890s. Its absolute origin is unknown. Wendy Doniger relates it to a French and English proverb: "In the dark, all cats are grey."

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

criticised naive ideas of the Absolute, which he ridiculed as "like a night, as people say, in which all cows are black."

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

in ''

The Dain Curse ''The Dain Curse'' is a novel by Dashiell Hammett, published in 1929. Before its publication in book form, it was serialized in ''Black Mask (magazine), Black Mask'' magazine in 1928 and 1929. Serial publication ''The Dain Curse'' was original ...

'' (1929) referred to a "blind man in a dark room hunting for a black hat that wasn't there". Ernest Gellner referred to an East European joke about science, philosophy, and

as looking for a cat in a dark room with various consequences: with science the cat is present, with philosophy absent, and with Marxism absent but found.

References

{{Reflist Metaphors referring to cats Philosophical analogies

Description

Explanation

Origin

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References