Thesis, antithesis, synthesis

The triad thesis, antithesis, synthesis (German: These, Antithese, Synthese; originally:[1] Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis) is often used to describe the thought of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.[2] Hegel never used the term himself. It originated with Johann Fichte.[1]

The relation between the three abstract terms of the triad, also known as the dialectical method, is summarized in the following way in the Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions:

(1) a beginning proposition called a thesis, (2) a negation of that thesis called the antithesis, and (3) a synthesis whereby the two conflicting ideas are reconciled to form a new proposition.[3]


History of the idea

Thomas McFarland (2002), in his Prolegomena to Coleridge's Opus Maximum,[4] identifies Immanuel Kant's Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781) as the genesis of the thesis/antithesis dyad. Kant concretises his ideas into:

Inasmuch as conjectures like these can be said to be resolvable, Fichte's Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftaslehre (1794) resolved Kant's dyad by synthesis, posing the question thus:[4]

Fichte employed the triadic idea "thesis–antithesis–synthesis" as a formula for the explanation of change.[5] Fichte was the first to use the trilogy of words together,[6] in his Grundriss des Eigenthümlichen der Wissenschaftslehre, in Rücksicht auf das theoretische Vermögen (1795): "Die jetzt aufgezeigte Handlung ist thetisch, antithetisch und synthetisch zugleich." ["The action here described is simultaneously thetic, antithetic, and synthetic."[7]]

Still according to McFarland, Schelling then, in his Vom Ich als Prinzip der Philosophie (1795), arranged the terms schematically in pyramidal form.

According to Walter Kaufmann (1966), although the triad is often thought to form part of an analysis of historical and philosophical progress called the Hegelian dialectic, the assumption is erroneous:[8]

Whoever looks for the stereotype of the allegedly Hegelian dialectic in Hegel's Phenomenology will not find it. What one does find on looking at the table of contents is a very decided preference for triadic arrangements. ... But these many triads are not presented or deduced by Hegel as so many theses, antitheses, and syntheses. It is not by means of any dialectic of that sort that his thought moves up the ladder to absolute knowledge.

Gustav E. Mueller (1958) concurs that Hegel was not a proponent of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, and clarifies what the concept of dialectic might have meant in Hegel's thought.[9]

"Dialectic" does not for Hegel mean "thesis, antithesis, and synthesis." Dialectic means that any "ism"--which has a polar opposite, or is a special viewpoint leaving "the rest" to itself--must be criticized by the logic of philosophical thought, whose problem is reality as such, the "World-itself."

According to Mueller, the attribution of this tripartite dialectic to Hegel is the result of "inept reading" and simplistic translations which do not take into account the genesis of Hegel's terms:

Hegel's greatness is as indisputable as his obscurity. The matter is due to his peculiar terminology and style; they are undoubtedly involved and complicated, and seem excessively abstract. These linguistic troubles, in turn, have given rise to legends which are like perverse and magic spectacles - once you wear them, the text simply vanishes. Theodor Haering's monumental and standard work has for the first time cleared up the linguistic problem. By carefully analyzing every sentence from his early writings, which were published only in this century, he has shown how Hegel's terminology evolved - though it was complete when he began to publish. Hegel's contemporaries were immediately baffled, because what was clear to him was not clear to his readers, who were not initiated into the genesis of his terms.

An example of how a legend can grow on inept reading is this: Translate "Begriff" by "concept," "Vernunft" by "reason" and "Wissenschaft" by "science"--and they are all good dictionary translations--and you have transformed the great critic of rationalism and irrationalism into a ridiculous champion of an absurd pan-logistic rationalism and scientism.

The most vexing and devastating Hegel legend is that everything is thought in "thesis, antithesis, and synthesis."[10]

Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) adopted and extended the triad, especially in Marx's The Poverty of Philosophy (1847). Here, in Chapter 2, Marx is obsessed by the word "thesis".[11]

It forms an important part of the basis for the Marxist theory of history.[12]

Writing pedagogy

In modern times, the dialectic of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis has been implemented across the world as a strategy for organizing expositional writing. For example, this technique is taught as a basic organizing principle in French schools:[13]

The French learn to value and practice eloquence from a young age. Almost from day one, students are taught to produce plans for their compositions, and are graded on them. The structures change with fashions. Youngersters were once taught to express a progression of ideas. Now they follow a dialectic model of thesis-antithesis-synthesis. If you listen carefully to the French arguing about any topic they all follow this model closely: they present an idea, explain possible objections to it, and then sum up their conclusions. [...] This analytical mode of reasoning is integrated into the entire school corpus.

Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis has also been used as a basic scheme to organize writing in the English language. For example, the website WikiPreMed.com advocates the use of this scheme in writing timed essays for the MCAT standardized test:[14]

For the purposes of writing MCAT essays, the dialectic describes the progression of ideas in a critical thought process that is the force driving your argument. A good dialectical progression propels your arguments in a way that is satisfying to the reader.
The thesis is an intellectual proposition.
The antithesis is a critical perspective on the thesis.
The synthesis solves the conflict between the thesis and antithesis by reconciling their common truths, and forming a new proposition.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Review of Aenesidemus" ("Rezension des Aenesidemus", Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, February 11–12, 1794). Trans. Daniel Breazeale. In Breazeale, Daniel; Fichte, Johann (1993). Fichte: Early Philosophical Writings. Cornell University Press. p. 63.
  2. ↑ Robert C. Solomon, In the Spirit of Hegel, Oxford UP, p. 23.
  3. ↑ "Hegel's Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis Model". Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Berlin: Springer. 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  4. 1 2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Opus Maximum. Princeton University Press, 2002, p. 89.
  5. ↑ Harry Ritter, Dictionary of Concepts in History. Greenwood Publishing Group (1986), p.114
  6. ↑ Williams, Robert R. (1992). Recognition: Fichte and Hegel on the Other. SUNY Press. p. 46, note 37.
  7. ↑ Fichte, Johann Gottlieb; Breazeale, Daniel (1993). Fichte: Early Philosophical Writings. Cornell University Press. p. 249.
  8. ↑ Walter Kaufmann (1966). "§ 37". Hegel: A Reinterpretation. Anchor Books. ISBN 0-268-01068-4. OCLC 3168016.
  9. ↑ Mueller, Gustav (1958). "The Hegel Legend of "Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis"". Journal of the History of Ideas. 19 (4): 411–414.
  10. ↑ Mueller 1958, p. 411.
  11. ↑ marxists.org: Chapter 2 of "The Poverty of Philosophy", by Karl Marx
  12. ↑ Shrimp, Kaleb (2009). "The Validity of Karl Marx's Theory of Historical Materialism" (PDF). Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  13. ↑ Nadeau, Jean-Benoit; Barlow, Julie (2003). Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France But Not The French. Sourcebooks, Inc. p. 62.
  14. ↑ "The MCAT writing assignment.". WikiPreMed. Wisebridge Learning Systems, LLC. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
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