A Primer on Analogical Reasoning

Systematizing one of our most common forms of argument

A chapter Mill’s “System of Logic” was part of the inspiration for this post.

I recently came across one of the best Twitter accounts I’ve ever seen.

The account, @justsaysinmice, does one thing: Points out where journalist’s reports fail to mention a study has only been performed on mice. For some reason — probably lack of flair — journalists are slow to advertise that only about 11% of drugs clinically tested in human beings will actually work after a successful trial in rodents [1].

Mouse clinical trials are a swiss army knife in medicine — especially oncology — yet they often fail when scientists try to replicate the results in human beings. As it turns out, mice aren’t tiny, furry, humans. However, they are sometimes analogous to people.

Recently problems like the reproducibility crisis in biomedical research have gotten me interested in the pitfalls of analogical thinking. In disciplines like medicine, business strategy, and law there’s likely to be no exact precedent for the plan, experiment, or case in question. This leaves…