Two Ways of Analogy: Extending the Study of Analogies to Mathematical Domains
Philosophy of Science 75 (2):178-200 (2008)
Abstract
The structure-mapping theory has become the de-facto standard account of analogies in cognitive science and philosophy of science. In this paper I propose a distinction between two kinds of domains and I show how the account of analogies based on structure-preserving mappings fails in certain (object-rich) domains, which are very common in mathematics, and how the axiomatic approach to analogies, which is based on a common linguistic description of the analogs in terms of laws or axioms, can be used successfully to explicate analogies of this kind. Thus, the two accounts of analogies should be regarded as complementary, since each of them is adequate for explicating analogies that are drawn between different kinds of domains. In addition, I illustrate how the account of analogies based on axioms has also considerable practical advantages, e. g., for the discovery of new analogies.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1086/590198
My notes
Similar books and articles
Computational and Biological Analogies for Understanding Fine-Tuned Parameters in Physics.Clément Vidal - 2010 - Foundations of Science 15 (4):375 - 393.
Structural analogies between physical systems.Peter Kroes - 1989 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40 (2):145-154.
Teaching old dogs new tricks: The role of analogies in bioethical analysis and argumentation concerning new technologies. [REVIEW]Bjørn Hofmann, Jan Helge Solbakk & Søren Holm - 2006 - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 27 (5):397-413.
Abortion, Analogies and the Emergence of Value.Paul F. Camenisch - 1976 - Journal of Religious Ethics 4 (1):131 - 158.
The technology of analogical models: Irving Fisher's monetary worlds.Mary S. Morgan - 1997 - Philosophy of Science 64 (4):314.
Analytics
Added to PP
2009-01-28
Downloads
89 (#139,806)
6 months
2 (#299,341)
2009-01-28
Downloads
89 (#139,806)
6 months
2 (#299,341)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Three Roles of Empirical Information in Philosophy: Intuitions on Mathematics do Not Come for Free.Deniz Sarikaya, José Antonio Pérez-Escobar & Deborah Kant - 2021 - Kriterion – Journal of Philosophy 35 (3):247-278.
On the creative role of axiomatics. The discovery of lattices by Schröder, Dedekind, Birkhoff, and others.Dirk Schlimm - 2011 - Synthese 183 (1):47-68.
How to infer explanations from computer simulations.Florian J. Boge - 2020 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 82:25-33.
References found in this work
Aspects of Scientific Explanation and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science.Carl Gustav Hempel - 1965 - New York: The Free Press.
The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation.Ernest Nagel - 1961 - New York, NY, USA: Harcourt, Brace & World.