ANALOGY
12independent of how we relate to others.
The other form of self-love, amour propre,
does depend upon comparing oneself to
others and the perception of superiority,
which Rousseau considered negative
and unnatural. How we ought to view
ourselves—either independently or as
compared with others—has been a large
topic of interest in philosophy of religion
(for an example, see HUMILITY). Also,
Christian theologians have struggled to
agree upon what they deem as ordinate
as opposed to excessive self-love. Is it
permissible or commendable to love God
because, in part, one desires the benefits
or blessings that are generated by such
love? Or should one love God regardless
of whether any personal benefits are
offered?
ANALOGY. From the Greek ana + logos,
meaning “according to ratio / proportion.”
A rhetorical device used to relate two
things by virtue of a similarity or resem-
blance between them. When “the Lord” is
described as being a shepherd (Psalm 23),
this implies that the Lord has certain
attributes comparable to those of a shep-
herd (e.g., he exercises vigilant care).
As set forth by St. Thomas of Aquinas,
analogy is a use of language distinct
from either the univocal or the equivocal.
Equivocal language uses a word in such
a way that it has different meanings in
different contexts, e.g., “I’m going to the
bank” illustrates an equivocal use of the
word “bank”—for, given the sentence’s
context, the word may either mean I’m
going to a river bank or a financial bank.
Conversely, univocal language uses a
word in such a way that it has the same
meaning in multiple contexts, e.g., “A
rose is a flower” and “That red rose has
thorns” shows a univocal use of “rose.”
Analogous language uses a word so
that its meaning is related to that of the
same word in other contexts, in a manner
neither entirely different nor entirely the
same. For example, when one says, “Black
clothes are hot,” the meaning of the word
“hot” is not the same as when one says,
“The fire is hot.” Black clothes do not
generate heat, but the meaning is related:
on sunny days black clothes can make
one feel hot, just as a fire can. Aquinas
suggested analogy as a solution to the
problem of how our language applies to
God, since both other types of usage
seemed problematic: if our statements
about God were univocal it would degrade
God to the level of other temporal objects,
while if equivocal, our statements about
God would be useless. See also RELI-
GIOUS LANGUAGE.ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY. A school
of philosophy emphasizing conceptual
clarity, greatly influenced and developed
by the work of G. E. Moore and Bertrand
Russell. Today what counts as analytic
philosophy is not limited to conceptual
analysis, but may include phenomenol-
ogy and broad appeals to experience and
intuition. In the late twentieth century