Analogical Reasoning and Semantic Rules of Inference
Fabrizio Macagno, Douglas Walton, Christopher W. Tindale · PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) · 2015
Analogy is represented as a twofold process of abstraction and species-genus inference. This type of analysis can account for essential (i.e. intentional) and accidental similarities. In dialectical analogies, the ones analyzed in the Topics, the abstraction singles out a feature that is part of or related to the meaning of the terms and that is relevant under the respect imposed by the analogical predicate. This process can shed light on the mechanisms underlying reasoning from accidental similarity analysed in the Rhetoric.