Synthesis

Georg Hegel (1770-1831) was an 18th century German philosopher whose writings are notoriously obscure. He discussed the development of an “absolute idea” or “universal truth” that is obtained by reconciling contradictions and tensions within systems. This way of thinking is frequently referred to as an ‘Hegelian Synthesis’, even though he himself never actually used the term. The basic idea can be summarized in the following three steps.

  1. We start with an initial idea or situation. This starting point is referred to as the ‘Thesis’.