§-Quick questions
QLDPhilosophy and ReasonUnit 3: Reason and formal logic
Quick questions on Arguments from analogy and their evaluation: QCE Philosophy and Reason
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the structure of an analogical argument?Show answer
An argument from analogy infers that because two things share several features, they probably share a further feature. Its general form is:
What is the design argument as an analogy?Show answer
William Paley's watchmaker analogy argues: a watch shows order and purpose, and we infer it had a designer; the universe shows order and purpose; therefore the universe probably had a designer. David Hume, anticipating Paley, pressed exactly the relevance test: the universe is disanalogous to a watch in crucial ways (it grows, it is unique, we never observe universes being made), so the inference is weak. Charles Darwin later supplied a rival explanation of biological order without a designer.
What is evaluating analogies in a response?Show answer
To evaluate an argument from analogy in QCAA style: (1) identify the two things compared and the target feature; (2) list the similarities the argument relies on and ask whether they are relevant to that feature; (3) look for relevant disanalogies; (4) judge the overall strength. The decisive move is almost always relevance, not raw count: ten irrelevant similarities are worth less than one relevant one.
What is q1?Show answer
State the general form of an argument from analogy. [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain why relevance of similarities matters more than their number. [3 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Identify one relevant disanalogy in Paley's watchmaker argument. [3 marks]
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