Analogy and intersubjectivity: Political oratory, scholarly argument and scientific reports

Abstract

The different ways in which analogy is used in political oratory, scholarly argument and scientific reports reflects distinctions in the kinds of intersubjective agreement sought and achieved by these three forms of discourse. Each form has a character and a “truth “ of its own. Nevertheless these “truths” are not all of equal status; they exist in a hierarchy of reliability, a hierarchy in which scientific truth is uppermost.