Difference between revisions of "Synthesis" - New World Encyclopedia

Revision as of 02:08, 25 February 2007

This article is about the philosophical concept. For the magazine, see Synthesis (Magazine).

Synthesis (from the ancient Greek σύνθεσις, σύν (with) and θεσις (placing)), is commonly understood to be an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which results in a new creation. The term is found is a wide variety of contexts, but it has had two central roles in philosophy: describing a certain type of resolution to a argumentative conflict, and describing a mental process that combines representations. The latter usage stems primarily from the work of the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant. These uses are only loosly related, and will be discussed in turn.

Synthesis As The Process Of Resolving A Conflict

The 'thesis, antithesis, synthesis' terminology is often associated with the philosophy of Hegel, though Hegel himself never employs these terms.

Synthesis As A Mental Process

In Kant's extremely nuanced picture of the mind (whose central presentation is the Critique of Pure Reason of 1781), 'synthesis' is defined as, "the action of putting different representations together with each other and comprehending their manifoldness in one cognition" (A77/B103, Guyer/Wood Translation).

Sir Peter Strawson, in his influential work on Kant, The Bounds of Sense, claimed that the notion of sythesis was part of an unfortunate aspect of Kant's philosophy which Strawson referred to as "the imaginary subject of transcendental psychology" (Strawson 1966, 32). Kitcher.

External links

Analysis and Synthesis: On Scientific Method based on a study by Bernhard Riemann From the Swedish Morphological Society.

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 {{otheruses4|the philosophical concept|the magazine|Synthesis (Magazine)}}
 {{Wiktionarypar|synthesis}}
-'''Synthesis''' (from the [[ancient Greek]] ''{{Polytonic|σύνθεσις}}'', ''σύν'' (with) and ''θεσις'' (placing)), is commonly understood to be an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which results in a new creation.
+'''Synthesis''' (from the [[ancient Greek]] ''{{Polytonic|σύνθεσις}}'', ''σύν'' (with) and ''θεσις'' (placing)), is commonly understood to be an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which results in a new creation.  The term is found is a wide variety of contexts, but it has had two central roles in philosophy: describing a certain type of resolution to a argumentative conflict, and describing a mental process that combines representations.  The latter usage stems primarily from the work of the great German philosopher [[Kant|Immanuel Kant]].  These uses are only loosly related, and will be discussed in turn.
-== Philosophical synthesis ==
+==Synthesis As The Process Of Resolving A Conflict==
-The term is broad in meaning and can apply to [[physicalism|physical]], [[ideology|ideological]], and/or [[phenomenology|phenomenological]] entities. In [[dialectic]]s, synthesis is the final result of attempts to reconcile the inherent contradiction between [[thesis]] and [[antithesis]]. Along with the similar concept of integration, synthesis is generally considered to be an important element of modern [[philosophy]], particularly in the various emerging ideas often considered to be [[holism|holistic]] (as opposed to [[reductionism|reductionistic]]).
+The 'thesis, antithesis, synthesis' terminology is often associated with the philosophy of [[Hegel]], though Hegel himself never employs these terms.
-== Chemical synthesis ==
+==Synthesis As A Mental Process==
-{{main|Chemical synthesis}}
-In [[chemistry]], [[chemical synthesis]] is the process of forming a particular molecule from chemical reagents.
+In Kant's extremely nuanced picture of the mind (whose central presentation is the ''Critique of Pure Reason'' of 1781), 'synthesis' is defined as, "the action of putting different representations together with each other and comprehending their manifoldness in one cognition" (A77/B103, Guyer/Wood Translation).
-== Synthesis in electronics and acoustics ==
+Sir Peter [[Strawson]], in his influential work on Kant, ''The Bounds of Sense'', claimed that the notion of sythesis was part of an unfortunate aspect of Kant's philosophy which Strawson referred to as "the imaginary subject of transcendental psychology" (Strawson 1966, 32).  Kitcher.
-In electronic music, [[sound synthesis]] is any of a number of methods of sound generation that a piece of hardware or software may employ, e.g. [[subtractive synthesis]] or [[frequency modulation synthesis]] (FM) that is mostly on xm radio  creates TV signals without necessarily requiring the use of a TV camera. Moving abstract patterns, text subtitles, colorized or processed camera images can all be in the output of a video synthesizer.  Analog video synthesizers included the [[Sandin Image Processor]], the [[Rutt-Etra]], Steve Beck's "Beck Direct" Synthesizer, Bill Hearn's colorizer, and the seminal work of [[Paik_Nam-june|Nam Jun Paik]].  Early digital synthesizers included Stephen Beck's Video Weavings, the 2901 bit slice processor from Steina and Woody Vasulka with Schier and Dosch,  Sandin's Digital Image Colorizer, Etra's "Kangaroo Giant Box"  , and the Fluidigeo Synthesizer.  Documentation on the history of video synthesizers can also be found at [http://www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/index.html].
-In the world of [[electronic design automation]], (logic) synthesis is the process of converting a digital design written in a [[hardware description language]] (HDL) into a low-level implementation consisting of primitive logic gates. Most large integrated circuits designed today are written in an HDL and "compiled" using a (logic) synthesis product.
-==See also==
-* [[Logic synthesis]]
-* [[Neuro-linguistic_programming|Neuro Linguistic Programming]]
-* [[Spiral_dynamics|Spiral Dynamics]]
-* [[Oscillation]]
-* [[Dialectic]]
 ==External links==
 * [http://www.swemorph.com/pdf/anaeng-r.pdf Analysis and Synthesis: On Scientific Method based on a study by Bernhard Riemann] From the Swedish Morphological Society.
-* [http://www.synthesis.hr/ Synthesis: Architecture-Design-Multimedia-Web Company.]
-* [http://dspwiki.com/ DSPwiki.com] A Wiki dedicated to DSP and Synthesis.
 [[Category:philosophy and religion]]