An example of analogy used to explain science:
"In fact, the total mass of a molecule is somewhat less than the sum of the masses of its component atoms. This difference – the mass defect – goes into the binding energy of the atoms in the molecule and is therefore of paramount theoretical importance although it is not detectable in the chemical laboratory, the scales of which are insufficiently sensitive for this purpose. If atomic masses were strictly additive there would be be no stable compounds: every combination would result from a chance encounter of indifferent atoms and would therefore be unstable; as it is, there are binding forces to which binding energies correspond.
A first metascientific moral of the above story is that mass is objectively nonadditive although the measured value of masses are additive in the context of present measurement technology. In other words mass is physically (objectively) nonadditive though empirically additive- much as all Eskimos look the same to unexperienced Europeans."
Mario Bunge
Bunge, M. (2017/1998). Philosophy of Science. Volume 2: From explanation to justification (Revised ed.). Routledge.
Read examples of scientific analogies
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
