Article ID: CBB001211045

Maxwell's Contrived Analogy: An Early Version of the Methodology of Modeling (2012)

unapi

The term analogy stands for a variety of methodological practices all related in one way or another to the idea of proportionality. We claim that in his first substantial contribution to electromagnetism James Clerk Maxwell developed a methodology of analogy which was completely new at the time or, to borrow John North's expression, Maxwell's methodology was a newly contrived analogue. In his initial response to Michael Faraday's experimental researches in electromagnetism, Maxwell did not seek an analogy with some physical system in a domain different from electromagnetism as advocated by William Thomson; rather, he constructed an entirely artificial one to suit his needs. Following North, we claim that the modification which Maxwell introduced to the methodology of analogy has not been properly appreciated. In view of our examination of the evidence, we argue that Maxwell gave a new meaning to analogy; in fact, it comes close to modeling in current usage.

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Authors & Contributors
Lambert, Kevin Thomas
Hubert, Mario
Francesco Nappo
Hartenstein, Vera
Lazaroff-Puck, Cameron
Bullock, Shawn Michael
Concepts
Physics
Methodology of science; scientific method
Metaphors; analogies
Electromagnetism
Models and modeling in science
Philosophy of science
Time Periods
19th century
Ancient
20th century
Places
Great Britain
United States
Europe
Ireland
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