Within Analogies
How 19th Century Analogies Skewed Scientific Thinking
Persistent analogies in historical scientific discourse shaped methods and interpretations, sometimes embedding misconceptions into the field.
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- Examples from human variation studies
- Impact on research methods
- Lessons for modern science education
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Introduction
In the 19th century, the use of metaphor and analogy in scientific discourse was not merely rhetorical window‑dressing but a constitutive part of how researchers conceived, conducted and interpreted their work. At a time when many scientific disciplines were taking shape and disciplines such as physiology, anthropology and thermodynamics were grappling with poorly understood phenomena, metaphors drawn from familiar domains helped scientists make sense of the unfamiliar. However, some of these analogies became entrenched — taken for granted, woven into the logic of research and shaping methods and interpretations long after their utility had diminished. These figurative frameworks sometimes embedded misleading assumptions, subtly influencing 19th‑century scientific practice and leaving legacies that persisted beyond their original context.[MIT Press Direct]direct.mit.eduMIT Press DirectMisled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy | Perspectives on Science | MIT PressApril 1, 2019…
Examples from Human Variation Studies
One of the most striking historical cases where entrenched metaphors influenced scientific research in the 19th century is found in studies of human variation — particularly in race and gender sciences. Historians such as Nancy Leys Stepan have shown that analogical reasoning was central to how scientists approached questions of human difference. In her influential work on analogy and science, Stepan analysed how metaphors imported from broader cultural discourse — especially those linking race, gender and hierarchy — became embedded in the logic of scientific inquiry itself.[JSTOR]jstor.orgRace and Gender: The Role of Analogy in ScienceThe question is, what part? I want to suggest that the metaphors functioned as the science itself-that.Read more…
The metaphors that connected racial categories to qualities like intelligence, moral capacity or temperament were not neutral descriptive tools. Instead, they functioned as constitutive elements of scientific reasoning, guiding what questions were asked, what counted as relevant data, and how results were interpreted. These analogies often aligned neatly with prevailing social hierarchies and prejudices, reinforcing the idea that Caucasian males were inherently more rational, less prone to criminality, or sexually “normal” compared with women, non‑white groups, or social outcasts. In such contexts, metaphor did not merely illustrate research findings — it shaped the conceptual categories within which data were gathered and understood.[MIT Press Direct]direct.mit.eduMIT Press DirectMisled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy | Perspectives on Science | MIT PressApril 1, 2019…
Because these analogical frameworks were deeply familiar and widely accepted within professional communities, they became entrenched: scientists unconsciously adopted them as literal truths that structured both methodology and interpretation. Observations consistent with the metaphor were emphasised, while evidence that contradicted it was overlooked or reinterpreted, reinforcing a cycle in which metaphor shaped research outcomes and research outcomes reinforced metaphor.[MIT Press Direct]direct.mit.eduMIT Press DirectMisled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy | Perspectives on Science | MIT PressApril 1, 2019…
Impact on Research Methods
Beyond the social sciences, metaphorical concepts also fed into empirical methods and explanatory models in the natural sciences. One longstanding example from physics and thermodynamics was the caloric theory of heat. In this theory — influential into the first half of the 19th century — heat was conceived as a subtle fluid that flowed from hotter to cooler bodies. This fluid‑like metaphor made sense of observable phenomena such as heat transfer and thermal expansion within a familiar physical image: a substance that could be carried, stored and conserved.[Wikipedia]
The caloric metaphor shaped the design and interpretation of experiments for decades, guiding researchers to use the fluid model as the substantive foundation of thermal science. Even when contradictory evidence emerged — for example, Count Rumford’s experiments on cannon‑boring that generated seemingly unlimited heat incompatible with a conserved fluid — proponents of the caloric metaphor initially tried to absorb these results into the existing framework rather than revise the metaphor outright.NYAS - The New York Academy of Sciences [nyas.org]nyas.orgNYAS - The New York Academy of SciencesExploring the Science and History of ThermodynamicsMay 1, 2006 — 1 May 2006 — Eighteenth-century p…
Similarly, biology and physiology in the 19th century repeatedly borrowed metaphors from mechanics and machines. Organisms were often analogised to machines whose parts worked like levers, pulleys or engines; tissues were conceived as materials subjected to mechanical forces; nerves were imagined as conductive wires. These metaphors carried implications for research methods: measurement strategies were chosen, instruments designed and hypotheses framed on the assumption that biological processes behaved like mechanical counterparts. This machine metaphor helped make nascent disciplines seem rigorous and systematic, but it also constrained researchers’ attention to aspects of phenomena that conformed to mechanistic expectations while downplaying emergent biological properties that did not fit neatly into this paradigm.[fountainmagazine.com]fountainmagazine.comMetaphors in ScienceFrom the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, the dominant metaphor was the machine metaphor: The world is a mach…
Lessons for Modern Science Education
The historical entrenchment of scientific metaphors in 19th‑century research offers important lessons for contemporary science education and research practice. First, it highlights how metaphorical frameworks — especially when they are culturally resonant or socially popular — can shape not only communication but the very cognitive structures that guide inquiry. Metaphors, once internalised, can condition researchers to overlook alternative explanations or to interpret ambiguous data in ways that reinforce the metaphor itself.[MIT Press Direct]direct.mit.eduMIT Press DirectMisled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy | Perspectives on Science | MIT PressApril 1, 2019…
Second, recognising the constructed nature of metaphors encourages critical reflection on the choice of analogies in pedagogy and research communication today. While metaphors remain indispensable for explaining complex ideas, educators and scientists must signal their limits explicitly, cautioning learners and colleagues about where the analogy breaks down. This reflexivity helps prevent the uncritical adoption of analogies as literal models, which can otherwise distort understanding in ways that mirror 19th‑century cases.
Finally, historical perspective suggests that researchers should seek plurality in models and metaphors rather than reliance on a single dominant analogy. By engaging multiple conceptual frameworks and comparing where they diverge, scientific communities can guard against the kind of entrenchment that historically skewed research programs toward preconceived assumptions rather than open‑ended inquiry.[MIT Press Direct]direct.mit.eduMIT Press DirectMisled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy | Perspectives on Science | MIT PressApril 1, 2019…
Conclusion
In 19th‑century science, metaphors were not peripheral flourishes but central organising elements in how researchers thought, acted and interpreted their work. From racial analogies in human variation studies to fluid and machine metaphors in physics and biology, these figurative frameworks shaped research methods and outcomes in ways that could mislead as much as they clarified. Understanding these historical patterns highlights the enduring power of metaphor in science — and the importance of critical awareness to prevent similar entrenchments from distorting inquiry today.[MIT Press Direct]direct.mit.eduMIT Press DirectMisled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy | Perspectives on Science | MIT PressApril 1, 2019…
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Endnotes
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Link: https://direct.mit.edu/posc/article/27/2/153/15419/Misled-by-Metaphor-The-Problem-of-IngrainedSource snippet
MIT Press DirectMisled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy | Perspectives on Science | MIT PressApril 1, 2019...
Published: April 1, 2019
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Source: Wikipedia
Title: Caloric theory
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_theory -
Source: jstor.org
Title: Race and Gender: The Role of Analogy in Science
Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/232652Source snippet
The question is, what part? I want to suggest that the metaphors functioned as the science itself-that.Read more...
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NYAS - The New York Academy of SciencesExploring the Science and History of ThermodynamicsMay 1, 2006 — 1 May 2006 — Eighteenth-century p...
Published: May 1, 2006
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Link: https://fountainmagazine.com/all-issues/2002/issue-40-october-december-2002/metaphors-in-science/Source snippet
Metaphors in ScienceFrom the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, the dominant metaphor was the machine metaphor: The world is a mach...
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Title: Scientific Inquiry From Metaphors to Abstraction
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THE ANIMAL LEYDEN JAR At the end of the eighteenth century, Luigi Galvani discovered that a dissected frog leg contracts when the nerve a...
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Nancy StepanHer research focuses on the history of science in Latin America and the importance of scientific research in the tropics.R...
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Caloric theory | Heat, Energy, TemperatureThe idea of an imaginary fluid to represent heat helped explain many but not all aspects of hea...
Additional References
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Examples of science metaphorsMost of these examples are metaphors for scientific concepts – but sometimes referents from science and tech...
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