Article ID: CBB181919885

Misled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy (2019)

unapi

Nancy Leys Step an's historical analysis of the analogical reasoning used in nineteenth century research on human variation highlights an interesting feature of scientific discourse: metaphors imported from larger society can negatively impact scientific practice. In this paper, I consider the roles of analogical reasoning in scientific practice and demonstrate how it can mislead the scientists relying on it. One way, the problem of ingrained analogy, results when the correspondences of a metaphor become entrenched in the minds of scientists. Previous solutions, offered by Turbayne (1971) and Recker (2004, 2010), lack the resources to address the problem. Thus, I propose introducing novel critique from relevant outsiders as a method to mitigate the power of scientific metaphors to mislead.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB181919885/

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Authors & Contributors
Reynolds, Andrew S.
Elwick, James M.
Lowe, James W. E.
Louis, Ard A.
Merlin, Francesca
Widmer, Alexandra
Concepts
Biology
Genetics
Variation (biology)
Human genetics
Metaphors; analogies
Cellular biology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
Places
Germany
Great Britain
Islands of the Pacific
London (England)
France
Institutions
World Health Organization (WHO)
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Anthropologie, Menschliche Erblehre und Eugenik
Human Genome Project
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