What is case-based reasoning?
Case-based reasoning (CBR), broadly construed, is the process of solving new problems based on reasoning about the solutions of similar past problems. An auto mechanic who fixes an engine by recalling another car that exhibited similar symptoms is using case-based reasoning. A lawyer who advocates a particular outcome in a trial based on legal precedents or a judge who creates case law is using case-based reasoning. So, too, an engineer copying working elements of nature is treating nature as a database of solutions to problems. Case-based reasoning is analogy plus adaptation. The case library, from a cognitive science perspective, is a kind of “episodic memory” that represents the problem solving experience of our computational entity.It has been argued that case-based reasoning is not only a powerful method for computer reasoning, but also a pervasive behavior in everyday human problem solving. Or, more radically, that all reasoning is based on past cases experienced or accepted by a
