analogy (Gk. ἀναλογία, orig. a mathematical term denoting proportion, but already used in a more general sense by Plato and Aristotle).
In common modern usage the word signifies a resemblance or similarity between objects of discourse. More technically, however, analogy is a linguistic and semantic phenomenon which occurs when one word bears different but related meanings so that its use on different occasions involves neither equivocation nor univocity. In cricket and zoology, ‘bat’ can mean something entirely different and its use is therefore equivocal. In ‘Fido is a dog’ and ‘Rover is a dog’, the word ‘dog’ means exactly the same thing and its use is univocal. When, however, we speak, for example, of a healthy diet and a healthy complexion, ‘healthy’ has a different but related meaning. Its use here may therefore be regarded as analogical. For this reason analogy has sometimes been confused with metaphor, though most writers on analogy have resisted the identification on the ground that an analogical statement is literally true while a metaphorical one is not.... ...
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