Analogy - Discovery - Justification - Model This essay takes a brief look at a classical theme in analytical philosophy: the distinction between procedures of discovery and what is known as the context of justification. Although analogies could provide a useful tool for achieving new discoveries, they do not constitute convincing demonstrations in themselves. That is why similarities should be treated with wariness and independent sources of proof should always be sought for analogies that induce us to embrace certain hypotheses. Yet this is far from straightforward. A deeplyrooted magical mindset is seduced by similarities and convinced that there is no better demonstration of a theory’s validity than the fact that "it all adds up".

Claudio Luzzati, Analogy as a procedure for discovery in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO " 1/2010, pp. 173-178, DOI:10.3280/SD2010-001007