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Formal analogies are in this general form:
a : b :: c : d
This is read as follows: "a is to b as c is to d".
What that means in plainer English is that the relationship
between "a" and "b" is similar somehow
to the relationship between "c" and "d."
Here are more specific examples:
- shoe is to foot as tire is to wheel
- followers are to a leader as planets are to a sun
- shells were to ancient cultures as dollar bills are to modern culture
Analogy is either the cognitive process of transferring information
from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another
particular subject (the target), or a linguistic expression
corresponding to such a process. In a narrower sense, analogy
is an inference or an argument from a particular to another
particular, as opposed to deduction, induction and abduction,
where at least one of the premises or the conclusion is general.
The word analogy can also refer to the relation between the
source and the target themselves, which is often, though not
necessarily, a similarity, as in the biological notion of
analogy.
Analogy plays a significant role in problem solving, decision
making, perception, memory, creativity, emotion, explanation
and communication. It lies behind basic tasks such as the
identification of places, objects and people, e.g. in face
perception and facial recognition systems. It has been argued
that analogy is "the core of cognition" (see Hofstadter
in Gentner et. al. 2001). Specifically analogical language
comprises exemplification, comparisons, metaphors, similes,
allegories, and parables, but not metonymy. 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
including them. Analogy is important not only in ordinary
language and common sense, where proverbs and idioms give
many examples of its application, but also in science, philosophy
and the humanities. The concepts of similarity, resemblance,
homology, comparison, association, correspondence and isomorphism
are closely related to analogy. In cognitive linguistics,
the notion of conceptual metaphor may be equivalent to that
of analogy.
Analogy has been studied and discussed since classical antiquity
by philosophers, scientists and lawyers. The last few decades
have shown a renewed interest in analogy, most notable in
cognitive science. |
