Concept · Cognitive Bias: Modern cognitive/philosophical fallacies
False analogy
Origin: Traditional rhetoric
Biological Parallel
Convergent evolution produces similar forms from different lineages—streamlined bodies in sharks and dolphins—but the analogy breaks down at reproduction, respiration, thermoregulation. Functionally similar structures (bat wings, bird wings) arise from radically different developmental pathways and fail in different ways under stress. Biology is littered with false analogies: structures that look alike but fail catastrophically when you assume deep similarity.