Classical theory of analysis and synthesis

Abstract

The article explores the classical understanding of analysis as the mental decomposition of the studied object into components and synthesis as the mental combination of these compo­nents into a whole. The naive understanding of analysis as the mental decomposition of any­thing into any parts is criticized. It is opposed by the assertion that at the analytical stage of the study of an object we gain the knowledge about its components, and at the synthetic stage we gain the knowledge about those relationships that combine these components into a whole object. A generalized understanding of synthesis as a knowledge of relations be­tween any objects and analysis as a knowledge of the carriers of these relations is intro­duced. Based on the material of the history of the study of value relations – Wertverhältnis – the epistemological mechanism of a holistic analytical and synthetic research is investigated. The relation of the classical theory of analysis and synthesis to nonclassical is clarified.