Research

My research focuses on the role of analogy in scientific practice and theorizing. My approach is practice-oriented, empirically informed, and interdisciplinary, combining historical case studies and contemporary cognitive science research. I use this method to situate the practices of particular scientists within their social and historical contexts and illustrate how the psychological consequences of analogical reasoning may have shaped the dynamics of their research.

Current projects include: investigating the role of analogical reasoning in exploratory experimental contexts, using Luigi Galvani’s pioneering work on animal electricity — De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari, Commentarius — as a case study; looking at how analogy use might exacerbate instances of scientific disagreement when key concepts are undergoing conventionalization (a process where figurative language gradually becomes more abstract until it is no longer understood as figurative at all); and testing whether representations of relational concepts are re-represented to improve coherence during analogical comparisons.