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A Causal Approach to Analogy

Pietsch, Wolfgang (2017) A Causal Approach to Analogy. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Analogical reasoning addresses the question how evidence from various phenomena can be amalgamated and made relevant for theory development and prediction. In the first part of my contribution, I review some influential accounts of analogical reasoning, both historical and contemporary, focusing in particular on Keynes, Carnap, Hesse, and more recently Bartha. In the second part, I sketch a general framework. To this purpose, a distinction between a predictive and a conceptual type of analogical reasoning is introduced. I then take up a common intuition according to which (predictive) analogical inferences hold if the differences between source and target concern only irrelevant circumstances. I attempt to make this idea more precise by addressing possible objections and in particular by specifying a notion of causal irrelevance based on difference making in homogeneous contexts.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Pietsch, Wolfgangpietsch@cvl-a.tum.de
Keywords: analogy, induction, Keynes, Carnap, Hesse, Bartha, difference making, causal irrelevance
Subjects: General Issues > Data
General Issues > Causation
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science
Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics
Depositing User: Wolfgang Pietsch
Date Deposited: 21 Apr 2017 13:32
Last Modified: 21 Apr 2017 13:32
Item ID: 12998
Subjects: General Issues > Data
General Issues > Causation
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science
Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics
Date: 15 March 2017
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12998

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