Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 50 — page 123: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION stances of a common nature. The inference involved in simple enumeration depends on the recognition or this common nature, or, in other words, in the recognition of an analogy. And it is with analogy that we must deal next. Few aspects of scientific method are so tricky to use, and so erroneously used by the beginner and the man in the street as analogy. This is because it is so easy to recog- nise resemblances but not so easy to recognise relevant resemblances. Just because a number of things have a certain feature in common does not mean. that they are fundamentally analogous. There must be millions of things which have the feature red in common, but no one would suggest that there is a fundamental relation between, say, a red scarf and a red tomato. Nevertheless, many people believe that all persons born in a certain place are of a certain type — belligerent, amorous, cunning and so on— and this is no more sensible than the scarf-tomato example. On analysis, it can be seen 122 that the usefulness or im- portance of an analogy de- pends upon two things—the type of initial resemblance and the scope of the proper- ties which are stated to be fundamentally similar. In all analogy there is in- ference. We say, in effect, “Seeing that A is x and y, and B is x, then B is also y.”’ The initial resemblance here is x; x is the thing which we claim is possessed by A and B. Now, if x is of such a nature that y (the inferred property) would account for x’s belonging to A and B, then the analogy is a strong one, and it is probably true that B is also y. Here is an example of this point: “A metal rod (A) is longer than it was (x) and is hotter than it was (y). This wooden rod (B) is longer than it was (x), so it is hotter than it was (y).”? Naturally, this is not proof, but it is good analogy. Now let us consider the scope of the properties that are inferred to be connected (vy). The more extensive, the more detailed, the more all- embracing these are, the Jess effective will be the analogy. comiclooks.con), = a eg lap te > oe ae “She Aa NETS ae eee ge oy a a OE iy ne es ogee ae a ees aol am od , 4 .f