ABSTRACT
Analogies play a role in almost every domain of intellectual activity. In this chapter we focus on the use of analogies in the context of scientific modelling and the construction of scientific theories. We begin by offering a general characterisation of analogies and analogical inferences, and we distinguish different kinds of analogies. We then turn to different uses of analogies in science and discuss first analogical models, and then the heuristic use of analogies in theory construction. We conclude by discussing the relation between analogies and metaphors.
