A faulty analogy occurs when the things comp are dissimilar in some important way. If the points of dissimilarity outw
the similarities, an analogy is in trouble. For example, assume that you have transferred from a college with 1,500 students to a university with 15,000 students. You present a speech proposing new campus security measures, arguing that because they worked well at the college, they should also work well at the university. Would such an analogical argument be valid? That would depend on the similarities and dissimilarities between the two schools. Is the size difference important? Are the crime problems similar? Are the schools located in similar settings? Are the students from roughly the same social and economic backgrounds? Dissimilarity on any of these points could raise doubts about the analogy. You would have to overcome these doubts for the analogy to be convincing.