A database system and a method for case-based reasoning are disclosed. The database system includes an exemplar object within the database configured to accept and store a plurality of exemplar cases, a target object within the database configured to accept and store a target case, and a comparison object within the database for comparing the target case with the plurality of exemplar cases. The method includes comparing the target case with the plurality of exemplar cases within a database to produce similarity metrics and determining the similarity between the target and exemplar cases based on the similarity metrics.