Abstractional concept mapping: A foundational model for analogical reasoning

Abstract

We present a mathematical model providing a formal basis for analogical reasoning, referred to as abstractional concept mapping. The approach provides a formal basis for all comparison-based reasoning (e.g., literal similarity, analogy, metaphor, and scientific models) in that given any two descriptions in first-order logic, arbitrary comparisons of similarity are representable as first-order theories (referred to as "comparison theories"), dependent only on the notion of logical truth and not on domain-specific heuristics or particular features of the knowledge representation.