The analogy arises by comparison.
Analogy emanates from the Latin analogĭa, although with more remote origins in a Greek word that can be translated as “similarity” or “proportion.” This Greek term was made up of three clearly differentiated parts:
• The prefix “ana-“, which is equivalent to “about or against”.
• The word “logos”, which can be translated as “word or reason”.
• The suffix “-ia”, which is used to indicate “quality”.
What is an analogy
Analogy, therefore, is a term that indicates a relationship of similarity between different things. The concept allows us to refer to the reasoning that is based on the detection of similar attributes in different beings or things .
For example: “I think the public did not understand my analogy between the gun and the microphone” , “The mayor surprised by drawing an analogy between the situation experienced in the town and that registered in the main economic centers of the world” , “ "I didn't like the analogy you made between my career and Gómez's career."
An analogy, therefore, is a comparison between objects, concepts or experiences. When establishing an analogy, particular and general characteristics are indicated and the similarities and differences between the contrasted elements are established.
Similarity is one of the bases of analogy.
The concept in biology and linguistics
In the field of biology , analogy is the similarity between parts that, in different organisms, have a similar function and the same relative position, although with a different origin.
For linguistics , analogy consists of the creation of new forms or the modification of existing ones based on similarity with others. Grammar , for its part, appeals to the notion of analogy to refer to the formal similarity that exists between linguistic elements that fulfill the same function or that have significant coincidences with each other.
Analogy as a literary device
Within the scope of language, we would also have to establish that analogy is a literary resource that is used to record a relationship of similarity between two objects or concepts. In this way, a clear example of this would be the following: “Failure is to defeat as success is to triumph.”
In this sense, we would have to explain, in the same way, that there are what are known as verbal analogies. These are usually a fundamental part, through various exercises, of psychotechnical tests that serve not only to determine a person's IQ but also their aptitude or linguistic development.
Thus, for example, it is common for an individual who faces these aforementioned tests to come across questions in which he or she must fill in the missing gaps with one of the words given as alternatives. A sample would be this: “an architect is a….as a computer is a….”.
The notion in law
Law , finally, maintains that analogy is the method that allows a legal norm to be extended, by identity of reason, to cases that are not included in it.
In the same way, we cannot forget that there is a publication that precisely has the word that concerns us now in its title. We are referring to “Philosophical Analogy”. It is a magazine that deals with philosophy as well as its research and dissemination. It was launched in 1987 and is written in Spanish.