How to Spot the False Analogy Fallacy for Better Thinking and Mental Health

The False Analogy, also known as faulty analogy, is incorrectly comparing one thing to another in order to draw a false conclusion. These types of fallacies are called rhetorical fallacies, and they can be used to manipulate or deceive people into believing false narratives or claims. Rhetorical fallacies are often used by religious leaders, commercial advertising, marketing agencies, salespeople, media outlets, political figures, and various types of activist groups.

The argument basically draws a conclusion from observed cases that are only superficially or apparently similar to the unobserved cases about which the conclusion is being drawn. A false analogy applies to inductive arguments. It is an informal fallacy because the error concerns what the argument is about, and not the argument itself.

Inductive reasoning is when you start with specific observations or facts, and infer a general rule or conclusion from them. For example, if you notice every time you eat spicy food, you get a stomach ache, you might use inductive reasoning to conclude that spicy food causes stomach aches, as opposed to deductive reasoning where you start with a general theory and deduce to specific conclusions.

For example:

• "Like an alley cat needs to prowl, an adult can't be tied down to one single relationship."
• "Plants are green and that’s why they can photosynthesize. If you paint yourself green you will get more energy from the sun."
• "Radio waves are invisible but they exist. In the same way, magic is invisible but it still exists."
• "Every year more people die in car crashes than in plane crashes. You will be much safer if a plane crashes."
• "Computer games have creators who made the virtual game worlds. In the same way, the real world was made by God. This is proof of God."
• "People are like lobsters because we mate for life. This also explains why we love swimming in water."
• "You can’t give me marriage advice because you had a marriage break down, too."
• "Being a teacher is just like being a doctor. Teachers diagnose problems with children and fix them."

Simple False Analogies

Simple false analogies make a single parallel comparison based on a similar characteristic or feature. A simple analogy contains two pairs of words with similar relationships. For example: "Love is like a spring shower. It brings refreshment to a person's body." (It also sometimes leads to thunderstorms and being hit by lightning.)

Detailed False Analogies

Complex analogies compare more than one parallel or multi-level concepts to create vivid descriptions. For example: "If we ever find aliens, they will need oxygen in some form on their planet. We know this because all animals on this planet require oxygen." (This is false because we don't know the difference between properties of life on our planet and the properties of life that could exist on other planets.)

The Watchmaker Argument

This argument states that a pocket watch is complex, and it’s clear that it must have been designed intelligently by a watchmaker. Living beings and the world are similarly complex. Thus, they must also be the product of intelligent design.

Famously presented by English clergyman and philosopher William Paley in 1802, the Watchmaker Argument, sometimes called the watchmaker analogy, is used to support arguments for the existence of God. The argument asserts that since the world is so complex, it must have been designed by an intelligent being, just as a watch is designed by a watchmaker.

This is an example of a false analogy. Just because something is complex doesn’t necessarily mean that some higher intelligent agent or being must have designed it. There are many problems with this line of reasoning, including infinite regress (who created the creator). Richard Dawkins refuted this faulty analogy in his book, The Blind Watchmaker, in 1986.

The opposite of this fallacy is the Sui Generis Fallacy. In law, it is a term of art used to identify a legal classification that exists independently of other categorizations, either because of its singularity or due to the specific creation of an entitlement or obligation. For example, a court's contempt powers arise sui generis and not from statute or rule.

See also: Differance - A postmodern stance that rejects the validity of analogy and of inductive reasoning altogether because any given person, place, thing or idea under consideration is "sui generis", which means different and unique or in a class unto itself.

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