When I use a word . . . . No jab, no job? A benefit:harm balance analysis

The current debate about whether individuals should be entitled to work in the healthcare sector if they decline to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV2 has been largely informed by personal opinions and argument by analogy. A benefit:harm balance analysis suggests that while vaccination has a highly favourable benefit:harm balance, the balance in instituting a “no jab, no job” policy is highly uncertain and may be unfavourable. Furthermore, there are practical difficulties and legal uncertainties. The much misunderstood precautionary principle dictates that if the benefit:harm balance of an intervention is unclear and may be unfavourable, the intervention should not be undertaken. Furthermore, the onus is on those who believe that the benefit:harm balance will be favourable to prove that it is so; it is not for the sceptics to prove that it isn’t. In the absence of good evidence in favour, this is an intervention that would be best avoided.

Darwin's Argument by Analogy

In On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin put forward his theory of natural selection. Conventionally, Darwin's argument for this theory has been understood as based on an analogy with artificial selection. But there has been no consensus on how, exactly, this analogical argument is supposed to work – and some suspicion too that analogical arguments on the whole are embarrassingly weak. Drawing on new insights into the history of analogical argumentation from the ancient Greeks onward, as well as on in-depth studies of Darwin's public and private writings, this book offers an original perspective on Darwin's argument, restoring to view the intellectual traditions which Darwin took for granted in arguing as he did. From this perspective come new appreciations not only of Darwin's argument but of the metaphors based on it, the range of wider traditions the argument touched upon, and its legacies for science after the Origin.

Toward a Theory of Understanding

This chapter returns to the idea that understanding is a grasp of structure except that it argues that the grasp of propositional structure is a special case of understanding. Knowledge and true belief are therefore forms of understanding. Knowledge and the grasp of nonpropositional structures in the same domain are checks on the veridicality of each other and show that they are in touch with the same world. The chapter also argues that the grasp of repeating structures in different domains is an important skill that supports a strong form of argument by analogy and should be encouraged in educational settings.

Understanding Aterritorial Borders through a BIG Reading of Agnew’s Globalization and Sovereignty

This essay advances the emerging idea of ‘aterritorial borders’ through an argument by analogy with a recent publication by a leading political theorist.

A New Argument Scheme for Causal Explanations by Analogy? The Case of Galileo’s Explanation of the Tides

This paper is a case study. After formulating three norms for critical assessment of argumentation (section 1), I give a brief overview of Galileo’s argumentative strategy in his Dialogue and present his argument for the cause of the tides, which appears as an argument by analogy (section 2). I then discuss possible reconstructions of this argumentation, with one particular suggestion in detail. These arguments seem to fall short, given the aforementioned set of norms (section 3). This leads to my own proposal of Galileo’s argument. I defend this proposal and it’s general idea - that is, the argument’s pattern. It will be classified as ‘interventionist’ and useful regarding the goals of critical assessment (section 4). Finally, I suggest that the pattern of argument is applicable to other cases and useful for applied theory of science (section 5).

The Universal Scope of Positive Duties Correlative to Human Rights

Negative duties are duties not to perform an action, while positive duties are duties to perform an action. This article focuses on the question of who holds the positive duties correlative to human rights. I start by outlining the Universal Scope Thesis, which holds that these duties fall on everyone. In its support, I present an argument by analogy: positive and negative duties correlative to human rights perform the same function; correlative negative duties are generally thought to be universal; by analogy, we have reason to think that positive duties are held by everyone. I then consider three disanalogies that challenge the above argument. To address these worries, I introduce the notion of ‘aggregative duties’ – duties that can only be adequately grasped when we focus on the aggregate effect of the actions and omissions of different agents. This framework allows me to refine the initial thesis and address the objections.