Abstract
“Analogy” is a word which has a long and glorious past. Its origin is Greek. In Greek language “analogy” is first used in mathematics.1 The mathematician Achytas calls “analogy” the middle term of an arithmetical series and the second term of a proportionality which comprises only three terms.2 The geometer Euclid uses “analogy” to mean both a proportion (i.e. a reciprocal relation between numbers or a direct similarity between them3) and a proportionality (i.e. equality of ratios or agreement between two or more numerical relations).4
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References
See T. Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics (Oxford, 1921) Vol I, espec. pp. 325–327, 384 ff.
See H. Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Berlin, 1934–1935), 5th ed., I, p. 435 f.
This seems to be the etymological sense of the word ἀναλογία. The word ἀναλογία is made up of the proposition ἀνά and the noun λόγος. λόγος signifies both a concept and a word expressing a concept.’ ανά used as a prefix in composition with another word has several shades of meaning. The meaning which seems most appropriate in its composition with λόγος is the notion of a backward relation, roughly corresponding to the prefix retro in Latin. Thus in this strictly etymological sense, ἀναλογία signifies a reciprocal relation between ideas. According to some Greek scholars, who take ἀνά to mean „according to“, the etymological meaning of ἀναλογία is „according to due relation“. Cf. J. F. Anderson, The Bond of Being (London: Herder, 1954), p. 15, note 37. Actually, when used adverbially, ἀνά λόγου means „according to due ratio“ and, sometimes, „in the same kind of way“.
Euclid, Elements, trans. T. L. Heath, (Cambridge, 1908), vol. II, pp. 112–117, and 120–124.
Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 5th ed., I, p. 396.
Plato, Timaeus, 32c.
Plato, Republic, 534a
Plato, Republic, 534a
Plato, Republic, 508b, Timaeus, 29c.
Ibid.
For a more exhaustive study pf the use of the term „analogy“ by Plato see H. Lyttkens, The Analogy between God and the World: An Investigation of its Background and Interpretation by Thomas of Aquino (Uppsala, 1952) pp. 15–28, hereafter cited as The Analogy.
See A. Goergen, Kardinal Cajetans Lehre von der Analogie, Diss. (München, 1938) p. 86.
For numerical analogy cf. Ethica Nic. 1131a, 30-b, 7; for epistemological analogy cf. De Memoria 452b 16 ff.; for ontological analogy cf. Metaphysica, 1043a 4, 1070a 31-b 35.
De Part. Animal. 645b 3 ff.
Ethica Nic. 1158a 35; b 23 ff.; 1162b 4.
Ethica Nic. 1132a.
Aristotle studies the problem of signification in Topica 106a-108a, where he suggests many criteria for distinguishing between univocal and equivocal terms. Cf. also Categoriae 1a.
Yet there are passages in Aristotle which suggest this use of the word “analogy”. For instance in Metaphysica 1070a&b he says that the first principles and causes are one κατ’ἀναλογίαν and in Ethica Nic. 1096b, 28 ff he says that the concept of good is one κατ’ἀναλογίαν. In the. last case he speaks of epistemological unity. In the first case he speaks of ontological unity. But this ontological unity implies a unity of concepts, and since these concepts which have analogical unity may be called analogous, the terms which signify them may also be called analogous. Aristotle, then, could have called, as the Scholastics actually did, the terms “matter”, “form”, “good”, “being” etc. analogous. Cf. also Topica, 136b–137a, 124a, 15 ff.
Analytica Priora 68b–69a.
See Analytica Posteriora 712, 10. We find in Aristotle another sort of reasoning by analogy which he calls κατἀναλογοίαν. See e.g. Topica 124a, 15 ff; 136b–137a etc. Probably this accounts for the origin of the terminology of “reasoning by analogy”.
Actually analogy is a sub-type of the class, metaphor. Cf. e.g. 1410b, 36, 1457b, 6. For image see 1406b, 20 ff.
See G. L. Muskens, De vocis “analogias” significatione ac usu apud Aristotelem (Groningue: Wolters, 1943).
Proclus, The Elements of Theology 18, Trans, by Dodds (1953) p. 21.
See Proclus, Commentarium in Platonis Parmenidem (Paris: Cousin, 1864), p. 851, 8 ff.; 852, 17 ff.; 880, 11 ff.; 890, 11 ff. etc. In this context Proclus does not use the word ἀναλογία but the expression ἀφ’ἑνὸς καὶ πϱὸς ἓν which in Latin, is translated by the Scholastics unius ad alteram, usually preceded by the word analogia, since the unius ad alterum is a form of analogy.
Pseudo-Dionysius, De Divinis Nomnibus in Migne’s Patrologiae Cursus Computus, Series Greca vol. 3, p. 588 A, 497 A; Ecclesiastica Hierarchia, ib. p. 372 D, 537 D etc. Pseudo-Dionysius is mainly concerned with analogy as a cosmological principle. For this matter see Oeuvres Complètes du Pseudo-Denys, Trans. M. de Gandillac (Aubier: Montaigne, 1943) p. 40.
For an excellent study of the use of analogy by the Neoplatonists see Lyttkens, The Analogy, pp. 58–109. For Pseudo-Dionysius see V. Lossky, „La notion des ‘Analogies’ chez Denys le Pseudo-Areopagite“, Archives d’Histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age (1930), ff p. 279 ff.
See „Analogia“, Harpers’ Latin Dictionary,
Varro, De Lingua Latina, 10, 74: “Analogia est verborum similium declinatio.”
Cf. “Analogia” in Ducange’s Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis.
Augustin, De Utilitate Credendi, 5.
This is the meaning of analogy in the expression of „analogies of the Trinity“. Cf. Augustin, De Trinitate, VIII – XV; Bonaventura, In Sententiis P. Lombardi, I, d. 3, a. 1, q. 1–3; and d. 16, a. 1, q. 1–3.
For physical and ontological likeness see In I Sent. 8, 1, 2; S. Theol. I, 13, 5 ad 1; for logical similarity see In IV Meta. no. 535; De Pot. 7, 7; for similarity of proportions see De Veritate 2, 11; In Post. Anal. I, 12; for reasoning by resemblance see In De Trin. lect. I, q. 2, a. 2, Resp.; for right degree of being see In IV Sent. 49, 2, 1 ad 2; In Divinis Nominibus I, lect. 1, no. 19, 20 & 37; for a mode of predication see In Meta no. 535 and 2197; De Potentia 7, 7; S. Theol. I, 13, 5; 16, 6.
Aquinas calls analogy proportio in De Veritate, 2, 2; 2, 11; in V Metaph. 1, 8; communitas in De Veritate 9, 11 ad 6; in I Sent. Prol. 1, 2 ad 2; convenientia, in De Veritate, 2, 11; in I Sent. 35 1,4; aequalitas disquiparantiae in Comm. in Div. Nomin. viii, lect. 4; similitudo in in IV Sent. 49, 2, 1 ad 6; parificatio in in I Sent. 19, 5, 2 ad 1.
E. Gilson, The Philosophy of St. Bonaventure, (London: 1938), p. 236.
See E. Gilson, Jean Duns Scot (Paris: 1962) pp. 101 ff.
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Mondin, B. (1963). The Use of the Term “Analogy” in Greek and Mediaeval Philosophy. In: The Principle of Analogy in Protestant and Catholic Theology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-6574-9_1
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