Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T01:06:32.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prospects for Analogue Confirmation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2022

Paul Bartha
Paul Bartha*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Department of Philosophy, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
*
Email: paul.bartha@ubc.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In analogical reasoning, observations about one or more source domains provide varying degrees of support for a conjecture about a target domain. Norton (2021) challenges the usefulness of formal models of analogical inference. Other philosophers (Dardashti et al. 2019) develop just such formal models in order to show how analogue experiments can confirm a hypothesis, even when the target domain is inaccessible. This paper defends the value of quasi-formal models of analogical reasoning. Such models are broadly compatible with Norton’s position, but help to clarify the structure of analogical reasoning and to identify basic requirements for a good analogical inference.

Type
Symposia Paper
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 89 , Issue 5 , December 2022 , pp. 928 - 938
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmad-Annuar, Azlina, Tabrizi, Sarah J., and Fisher, Elizabeth M. C.. 2003. “Mouse Models as a Tool for Understanding Neurodegenerative Diseases.” Current Opinion in Neurology 16:451–58.10.1097/01.wco.0000084221.82329.29CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartha, Paul F. A. 2010. By Parallel Reasoning: The Construction and Evaluation of Analogical Arguments. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckingham, Edgar. 1914a. “Physically Similar Systems.” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 93:347–53.Google Scholar
Buckingham, Edgar. 1914b. “On Physically Similar Systems: Illustrations of the Use of Dimensional Equations.” Physical Review 4:345–76.10.1103/PhysRev.4.345CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, Robert, and Wylie, Alison. 2016. Evidential Reasoning in Archaeology. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Crowther, Karen, Linnemann, Neils S., and Wüthrich, Christian. 2021. “What We Cannot Learn from Analogue Experiments.” Synthese 198 (Suppl 16):3701–3726. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02190-0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, Adrian. 2018. Rock, Bone, and Ruin: An Optimist’s Guide to the Historical Sciences. Cambridge: The MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/11421.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dardashti, Radin, Thébault, Karim P. Y., and Winsberg, Eric. 2017. “Confirmation via Analogue Simulation: What Dumb Holes Could Tell Us About Gravity.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 68 (2017): 55–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dardashti, Radin, Hartmann, Stephan, Thébault, Karim, and Winsberg, Eric. 2019. “Hawking Radiation and Analogue Experiments: A Bayesian Analysis.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 67 (2019):1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnan, Christopher B. 1971. “Ancient Peruvian Potters’ Marks and Their Interpretation Through Ethnographic Analogy.” American Antiquity 36 (4):460–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, Elizabeth M. C., and Bannerman, David M.. 2019. “Mouse Models of Neurodegeneration: Know Your Question, Know Your Mouse.” Science Translational Medicine 11 (493): eaaq1818.10.1126/scitranslmed.aaq1818CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Froude, William. 1874. “On Experiments with HMS Greyhound.” Transactions of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects 15:36–73.Google Scholar
Maier, Clifford L. 1981. The Role of Spectroscopy in the Acceptance of the Internally Structured Atom, 1860–1920. New York: Arno Press.Google Scholar
Norton, John. 2021. The Material Theory of Induction, posted version of March 14, 2021. ∼https://sites.pitt.edu/∼jdnorton/papers/material_theory/Material_Induction_March_14_2021.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiss, Julian. 2019. “Against External Validity.” Synthese 196:3103–21.10.1007/s11229-018-1796-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sterrett, Susan. 2017a. “Physically Similar Systems – A History of the Concept.” In Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science, edited by Magnani, Lorenzo and Bertoletti, Tomasso, 377–411. Dordrecht: Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-30526-4_18CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sterrett, Susan. 2017b. “Experimentation on Analogue Models.” In Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science, edited by Magnani, Lorenzo and Bertoletti, Tomasso, 857–878. Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, David W. 1907. “Simple Explanation of Model Basin Methods.” Scientific American 97 (23):418–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar