Analogy and Analogical Reasoning
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Analogy is a comparison made between two objects or systems of objects that highlights respects in which they are taken to be similar; analogical reasoning is thinking that proceeds by way of such comparison, typically inferring a further similarity from those already known. It is a species of ampliative reasoning, whose conclusion goes beyond what the premises guarantee.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Cross-domain transfer: exploit the correspondence of relational structure between two domains to project a known solution onto an unfamiliar problem. - Analogy checkup: test whether the similarities are systematically connected or mere coincidence, and stop at a pileup of surface features.
Anchor fast decisions
Why should similarity in some respects support similarity in others? The mechanism is that known similarities provide a correspondence of relational structure, and if this is systematically connected to the target property rather than coincidental, the projection is warranted. Structure-mapping theory emphasizes that what matters is the matching of relational structure, not the accumulation of surface features.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reasoning-analogy/verified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS