Analysis and Synthesis

A pair of interconnected basic methods in human thinking. Analysis and synthesis are methods that reveal the intrinsic essence of things more deeply than induction and deduction. Analysis is a method by which a whole is decomposed into its parts, aspects, and elements in thinking, so that they can be studied one by one. There are diverse methods of analysis, including qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, causal analysis, structural analysis, functional analysis, information analysis, model analysis, and genetic analysis. Dialectical analysis is, by its very nature, an analysis of contradictions, an analysis of the whole, which contains synthesis in itself, but is chiefly characterized by analysis. Synthesis is a method by which the elements are recombined into a whole based on the decomposition of the whole into individual factors, attributes, and aspects in thinking. Early intellectual or abstract synthesis manifested itself chiefly as mechanical synthesis and linear synthesis, and its overall feature was to abide by to the formula “the sum of the parts equals the whole”, and to regard synthesis as a process of adding and subtracting combinations of thinking. Modern systems theory has seen the limitations of intellectual synthesis and proposed the method of systems synthesis of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Dialectical thinking advocates dialectical synthesis. The method of dialectical synthesis is a method by which, in thinking, all aspects of an object are organically combined into a unified whole according to their inner connections, a method that requires the meaning and structure of the material to be brought out so as to unfold the essence of the thing. Although analysis and synthesis are two relatively operational modes of thinking, they are interdependent and transform into each other. On the one hand, synthesis cannot be separated from analysis because it is the basis of synthesis. Without systematic and consistent analysis, there can be no correct synthesis. On the other hand, analysis cannot be separated from synthesis, synthesis and it is the completion of analysis. Without the guidance of synthesis, it is impossible to make a correct analysis of things; the end of analysis is to serve the synthesis and to achieve a unified knowledge of the essence of things. Without synthesis, analysis would lose its meaning. In this sense, synthesis is more profound than analysis. The process of utilization of analysis and synthesis is also a process from the sensuous concrete to the abstract in thought, and then from the abstract in thought to the concrete in thought. Generally speaking, from the sensuous concrete to the abstract, rather the methods of analysis are used, while from abstract to the concrete in thought, rather the methods of synthesis are used.