The art of thinking · Philosophy and logic
Analysis and synthesis (method)
Also known as: Method of resolution and composition, Resolutive-compositive method, Analysis and composition
German: Analyse und Synthese
In the history of scientific method, analysis and synthesis is the two-way procedure of resolving a problem or phenomenon into its simpler parts and causes (analysis, resolution) and then reasoning back from them to the whole (synthesis, composition); it runs from Greek geometry, as described by Pappus of Alexandria, through Galileo to Newton.
- Thinking models
- Philosophy
- Engineering
In one sentence
Analysis resolves a problem into its simpler parts and causes; synthesis reasons back from them to the whole — a method from Pappus to Newton.
Example
A writer analyzes a packaging line into stations, operating modes, tasks and hazards, then synthesizes the documentation from these parts: topics per task, warnings per hazard, a map per audience.
Explained in context
Context cards connect this term with others to answer one question. Also in British English and German.
How it applies
- Greek geometry: Pappus of Alexandria (4th century CE) described analysis as assuming what is sought and working back to something already known, and synthesis as the proof that runs forward again.
- Early modern science: Galileo spoke of resolution and composition; Newton wrote in Opticks (Query 31) that "the Investigation of difficult Things by the Method of Analysis, ought ever to precede the Method of Composition".
- First principles thinking: The two halves of the modern method — break the problem down, then rebuild from the fundamentals — are analysis and synthesis under a new name.
- Technical documentation: Analysis takes the product apart into functions, tasks, hazards and audiences; synthesis builds topics, warnings and publications from those parts.
Analysis and synthesis vs. destruction and creation
John Boyd describes the same pair as a mental cycle: concepts are broken apart (destructive deduction) and recombined into new ones (creative induction), and the cycle repeats whenever the new concept stops matching reality.
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