People employ analogies in arguments all the time--sometimes well and sometimes badly. Two of the worst analogies I've seen recently involved comparing 'getting pregnant from rape' to 'getting a flat tire' and 'being subject to higher income taxes' to 'getting raped'. Yikes.
On the other hand, two of the very best arguments by analogy that I've ever seen involved comparing a human fetus to a concert violinist and Irish infants to suckling pigs.
This diary is about argument by analogy--the form of the argument, the ways it can be employed, and the process of evaluating it. This time, in honor (?) of the atrocious right-wing thinking (?) on rape, we'll visit a beautiful and powerful argument by analogy that everyone should know and take time to ridicule one of the worst.
