An historical example of the use of metaphor in science writing:
"the successful process of scientific enquiry demands continually the alternate use of both the inductive and deductive method. The path by which we rise to knowledge must be made smooth and beaten in its lower steps, and often ascended and descended, before we can scale our way to any eminence, much less climb to the summit. The achievement is too great for a single effort; stations must be established, and communications kept open with all below…"
"In such cases the inductive and deductive methods of enquiry may be said to go hand in hand, the one verifying the conclusions deduced by the other; and the combination of experiment and theory, which may thus be brought to bear in such cases, forms an engine of discovery infinitely more powerful than either taken separately."
Sir John F. W. Herschel
Herschel, J. F. W. (1830). Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
