Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

2 Reasons Analogies Fail In Persuasion

2 Reasons Analogies Fail In Persuasion
Before reading this book, I did not know that analogies fail typically as a tool of persuasion.

I mean, for years, analogies were my go-to discussion tool.

But did you realize that even making an argument from analogy can be considered invalid?

Maybe argument by analogy is not invalid in normal discussion.

But try it in a graduate philosophy class and I bet someone calls you out on it.

This is because an analogy is a form of induction.

And induction can only ever be “likely true.”

Remember that whole black swan thing about the limits of observation?

Deduction, however, is “always true” if the logic and premises are true.

As I explained, the first reason analogies fail at persuasion is that they are not designed for that job. Analogies are not logic. They are just a quick way to explain a new concept.
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The second reason analogies fail is because they are imprecise by definition. That gives people on the other side of a debate all kinds of ammunition. And no one changes their mind when they have that much ammunition for a defense. As it turns out, all of the ammunition provided by bad analogies is in the form of blanks, because analogies are not persuasive, and neither are the criticisms of analogies. If you are arguing about the details of an analogy, you are not persuading, and you are not being persuaded. You are just wasting time.
-Scott Adams, Win Bigly

Do Analogies Persuade People?

Do Analogies Persuade People?
I always thought that analogies persuade people.

But do they?

Scott Adams disagrees.

And of course, after all this reading, I am not sure how much I have ever really persuaded anyone on much of anything.

Take a short example.

X makes driving incredibly more dangerous.
Therefore X should be illegal and punishable by possible jail time.

This works where X = Drunk Driving, right?

What about where X = Eating In The Car?

Did it work?

Did you change your mind about anything?

Yeah, me either.

But remember that while analogies might fail – association and repetition are persuasive.

If I say “YOUR NAME + is like a stupid idiot.” enough times, guess how people will start to see you?

And no – that person is not like Hitler – few people are like Hitler.

While analogies are useful and important for explaining new concepts, here’s the important point for our purposes: Analogies are terrible for persuasion. Unfortunately, most people believe that analogies are one of the best ways to persuade. That fact goes far in explaining why it seems that every debate on the Internet ends with a Hitler analogy. The phenomenon is so common it has its own name: Godwin’s law.
-Scott Adams, Win Bigly
Sterling Terrell