The Paradox of Analogy

Abstract

I will show that there is a type of analogical reasoning that instantiates a pattern of reasoning in confirmation theory that is considered at best paradoxical and at worst fatal to the entire syntactical approach to confirmation and explanation. However, I hope to elaborate conditions under which this is a sound (although not necessarily strong) method of reasoning. It does not, as its exponents claim, instantiate a pattern of reasoning distinct from deductive and inductive logic. © David Botting.