Friday, November 12, 2010
Reasoning by Analogy
I felt that I needed to further research reasoning by analogy because it was difficult for me to understand. One website that I came across was helpful and explained this concept clearly. This website defined an analogy as: "a statement of logical relationship between two similar things that are compared with each other." This definition helped be better understand what an analogy really is. The site also explained that an argument by analogy can be: "A is like B" or "X is similar to Y." I found another website that was also helpful. This site explained that there are four steps to take when you reason by analogy. The first step is that you must identify the analogy by recognizing the similarities between objects and situations. The second step is to state the purpose of the analogy. The third step is to access the source of the analogy. The fourth and final step is to evaluate the ambiguities, dissimilarities, and false attributions that may weaken or break the analogy. This additional research helped me better understand reasoning by analogy.
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Your step by step explanation for the Reasoning by Analogy is very helpful. I was unclear of how exactly to form an example for the Reasoning by Analogy. By going through the four steps to approach this type of reasoning, it makes everything crystal clear on how to construct an analogy that works for your reasoning. Addressing what needs to be done with the analogy itself identifies clearly what makes a convincing and strong argument if an analogy is used with your reasoning. You also provided the definition of what an analogy is. Even though it may be common knowledge, reiterating the definition before giving the steps helps to understand this subject.
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