ABSTRACT
In analogy one compares one entity or group of entities with others and argues that as a result of the similarities the new item or group exhibits with these other items, the item of interest will also behave like them in a certain, but previously unknown, respect. The ability to develop and use analogies rests on the ability to identify similarities between objects. Among David Hume strategies for drawing different conclusions from the analogy was to focus on the imperfections and miseries in the world and then raise the question of whether the responsibility for analogy rests also with the designer. There are a number of fallacies that are peculiar to analogical arguments. Most of these can be detected by developing a matrix for the analogy. Three fallacies that occur rather often with analogies and for which one should be on the lookout are: the fallacy of asserted analogy, fallacy of irrelevant analogy and fallacy of weak analogy.
