KnowraAnalogyAnalogyAn analogy compares two entities or situations to suggest that relationships or features in one may apply to the other.BriefConnectAnalogical reasoning: Reasoning that uses correspondences between a familiar source and a target to draw or assess conclusions. It is the inference process that turns an analogy into a possible conclusion.Similarity: A relation in which two or more things share one or more properties or patterns. An analogy relies on selected similarities, but not every resemblance is relevant.Scientific modeling: The use of simplified representations to describe, explain, or predict aspects of the world. Scientists use analogies to make a model's unfamiliar mechanisms intelligible.Deductive reasoning: Reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from premises if the argument is valid. Unlike deduction, analogy usually supports a conclusion without guaranteeing it.Conceptual metaphor: A pattern of understanding one abstract domain through concepts and relations from another domain. Repeated analogical mappings can organize how people think about abstract ideas.Structure-mapping theory: A theory of analogy in which people align relational structures between a source and a target. It explains why shared relations matter more than surface resemblance.Comparison: The act of examining two or more things for similarities and differences. Analogy is a comparison that highlights possible correspondence rather than merely listing traits.Teaching by analogy: An instructional approach that explains a target concept through a more familiar source concept. It uses familiar relations to scaffold understanding of new material.Abductive reasoning: Reasoning that proposes a plausible explanation for observed evidence. Abduction seeks explanatory hypotheses, whereas analogy transfers relations between cases.Analogical innovation: The creation of new ideas or solutions by transferring patterns across domains. Cross-domain analogy can suggest possibilities that direct work within one domain misses.Show all 27Linked from 24 pagesNatural theologyRelated: Arguments from nature often infer divine qualities by analogy with familiar causes.Analogy of beingNarrower topic: The analogy of being applies this broader kind of comparison to language about God and creatures.Scientific modelCompared with: An analogy can suggest a model, but does not by itself specify a testable representation.Inductive reasoningRelated: Analogical arguments project a known feature from one case to a similar case.Metaphysical conceitNarrower topic: A conceit develops analogy into a sustained structure of thought.Indo-European ablautCompared with: Analogy can level inherited grade differences or spread them beyond their earlier distribution.Comparative religionRelated: Analogies can illuminate parallels while obscuring differences in historical setting.Teleological argumentNarrower topic: Paley’s reasoning depends on treating organisms as relevantly like human-made artifacts.Show all 24