I just want to clarify my general view on analogies here, because I’d prefer not to be interpreted as saying something like “you should never use analogies in arguments”. In short:
I think that analogies can be good if they are used well in context. More specifically, analogies generally serve one of three purposes:
Explaining a novel concept to someone
Illustrating, or evoking a picture of a thing in someone’s head
An example in a reference class, to establish a base rate, or otherwise form the basis of a model
I think that in cases (1) and (2), analogies are generally bad as arguments, even if they might be good for explaining something. They’re certainly not bad if you’re merely trying to tell a story, or convey how you feel about a problem, or convey how you personally view a particular thing in your own head.
In case (3), I think analogies are generally weak arguments, until they are made more rigorous. Moreover, when the analogy is used selectively, it is generally misleading. The rigorous way of setting up this type of argument is to deliberately try to search for all relevant examples in the reference class, without discriminating in favor of ones that merely evoke your preferred image, to determine the base rate.
I just want to clarify my general view on analogies here, because I’d prefer not to be interpreted as saying something like “you should never use analogies in arguments”. In short:
I think that analogies can be good if they are used well in context. More specifically, analogies generally serve one of three purposes:
Explaining a novel concept to someone
Illustrating, or evoking a picture of a thing in someone’s head
An example in a reference class, to establish a base rate, or otherwise form the basis of a model
I think that in cases (1) and (2), analogies are generally bad as arguments, even if they might be good for explaining something. They’re certainly not bad if you’re merely trying to tell a story, or convey how you feel about a problem, or convey how you personally view a particular thing in your own head.
In case (3), I think analogies are generally weak arguments, until they are made more rigorous. Moreover, when the analogy is used selectively, it is generally misleading. The rigorous way of setting up this type of argument is to deliberately try to search for all relevant examples in the reference class, without discriminating in favor of ones that merely evoke your preferred image, to determine the base rate.