Comparative reasoning

Disciplines > Argument > Types of reasoning > Comparative reasoning

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

Comparative reasoning establishes the importance of something by comparing it against something else.

The size of the gap between the things compared indicates importance. Compare against a high standard to make something look undesirable. Compare it against a weak example to make it look good.

To create a logical argument, first establish the validity of the comparison benchmark. For less logic, the benchmark may be assumed.

There are many ways to compare, for example:

Compare what people have got (or not got) against what others have.
Compare the past with the future.
Compare what is actual with what is ideal.
Compare words and actions against values.

Example

Say this	Not this
I guess your wife will want something good-looking. How about this one?	This is the right one for you!
How will we know when we have succeeded? Let's discuss this first...	Success means maximum profits.
Our manifesto says we must help those who cannot help themselves. Now, can this person help himself?	We should not help this man.

Discussion

Comparison is a very natural form of judgement as we find it difficult to evaluate something on a stand-alone basis. We want to know if it is better or worse -- but better or worse than what? If you can establish the benchmark, then the rest, as they say, is history.

Not only is there an assumption that the benchmark item is the right thing to compare against, but the assessment of how much better or worse things are is also assumed to depend on the size of the gap between the item being compared and the benchmark.