syn|the|sis

syn|the|sis «SIHN thuh sihs», noun, plural -ses «-seez».

1. a) the combination of parts or elements into a whole: »

in the opinion of several competent critics the best synthesis of Baudelaire that had appeared in English (London Times). I cannot believe that we can achieve a synthesis between Thomas Aquinas and Marx (Gyorgy Lukas).

b) a body of things put together thus. An idea or concept may be a synthesis of several other ideas. »

The happiest synthesis of the divine, the scholar and the gentleman (Samuel Taylor Coleridge).

2. the formation of a compound or a complex substance by the chemical union of various elements or by the combination of simpler compounds. Alcohol, ammonia, and rubber can be artificially produced by synthesis. »

A total synthesis implies that in theory a substance has been elaborated from its elements, in this case carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (A. J. Birch).

3. Philosophy, Logic. a) the combination or unification of particular phenomena, observed or hypothesized, into a general body or abstract whole. b) according to Immanuel Kant, the action of the understanding in combining and unifying the isolated data of sensation into a cognizable whole. c) according to Thomas Hobbes, Isaac Newton, and others, deductive reasoning.

╂[< Latin synthesis a collection, set; the composition (of a medication) < Greek sýnthesis composition (logical, mathematical) < syntithénai to combine < syn- together + tithénai put, place. Compare etym. under thesis. (Cf. ↑thesis)]