Chapter 80 [Chapter Nine Sophistry in Analogical Reasoning] [Introduction]

Reasoning by analogy is also called analogy method or analogy for short.It is based on the fact that two or two types of objects A and B are the same or similar in some attributes, and it is known that the A object has another attribute, and it is deduced that the B object also has this attribute. The formula for analogical reasoning can be expressed as: A object has attributes A, B, C, D; Object B has attributes A, B, C; Therefore, the B object has attribute D. Analogy reasoning can inspire people's thinking and has the function of drawing inferences from one instance and drawing inferences by analogy. It is widely used in the history of science or in contemporary scientific research.Many important theoretical discoveries, inventions and creations in science and technology, and scientific hypotheses are all helped by analogy.Reasoning by analogy is also a method of illustrating a problem.Therefore, analogical reasoning is a creative and important form of thinking.From the perspective of reasoning content, analogical reasoning includes qualitative analogy, relational analogy and eventual analogy.

The conclusion of analogical reasoning is not inevitable, because the reasoning basis is insufficient.First of all, there are not only similarities between things, but also differences.If the attribute D in the above formula is precisely the attribute of object A different from that of object B, then it is wrong to draw the conclusion that object B has attribute D; secondly, among the many attributes of things, some are essential attributes or inherent attributes, and some are Non-essential or incidental properties.If attribute D is a non-essential or occasional attribute of object A, it cannot be transferred to object B.

In order to improve the reliability of conclusions of analogical reasoning, logic puts forward some requirements.The main ones are: it is necessary to list as many common attributes as possible among objects and to select more essential attributes for analogy; it must be guided by the scientific world outlook and methodology of dialectical materialism.Otherwise, it is easy to make the mistake of mechanical analogy or vulgar analogy. The sophistry techniques used by sophists when applying analogical reasoning are: far-fetched, absurd comparisons, deliberately pulling together fundamentally different things for analogy, and defending some kind of fallacy.