Analogia fisikarien sormenean

Abstract

General topics on analogical reasoning are described in this text, in which the creativity of physicist will be studied by means of different examples. In the first part, some philosophical views will be exposed and briefly discussed about the centrality of analogy in scientific creativity. In a historical view, the second part, will describe the classical approach towards analogy realized by cognitive scientists in order to compare this generally accepted background with recent contributions to the issue. Here I will emphasize the importance of spontaneous and generative analogies in comparison with constructed analogical sources. In the light of the possibility of the mentioned spontaneity, I will finally show some creative historical cases of famous physicists focusing on certain properties and roles of analogy: generalization, catachresis and internal structure of analogical reasoning.