Argumentation schemes for argument from analogy

Douglas N. Walton

pp. 23-40

in: Henrique Jales Ribeiro (ed), Systematic approaches to argument by analogy, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

In this paper I show how there are two different argumentation schemes for argument from analogy, and show by means of examples how each scheme applies to different cases in its own distinctive way. One scheme is based on similarity, while the other scheme is based on factors shared or not shared by two cases that are being compared. The problem confronted in the paper is to study how the two schemes fit together. Are there really two different schemes for argument from analogy, or is the one scheme an extension of the other that applies at a different dialectical stage of the argumentation in a case? Since argument from analogy is fundamental in case-based reasoning and legal reasoning, there is some discussion of how the schemes fit into both topics.