Analogy, Simulation, Representation

Abstract

The importance of analogy in scientific research should be undeniable. But, of course, it has been both denied and exaggerated: denied by those who see analogy as being only of heuristic value and overrated by those who regard analogy as having no less than a search-guiding function. Unfortunately neither the foes nor the friends of analogy seem to have taken it seriously enough to give a suitable characterization of it. In this preliminary study we shall attempt to explicate analogy in an elementary way and show its kinship to two other concepts of philosophical importance, namely those of simulation and representation.