Synoptic philosophy
Encyclopedia
Synoptic philosophy comes from the Greek word συνοπτικός sunoptikos (“seeing everything together”) and together with the word philosophy
, means the love of wisdom emerging from a coherent understanding of everything together.
Synoptic philosophy is simply a synthetic worldview embracing both thesis
and antithesis
such as analysis
and synthesis
, action and reaction
, explication
and implication
, phenomenon
and noumenon
, visible and invisible, just to name a few. As such, it may be compared to the Janus
' extrovert and introvert
vision, or the view on the iceberg
having the one-ninth surfaced tip and the eight-ninths submerged mass.
Phenomenology, attempting to bracket egocentrism
, appears to be more synoptic than analytic philosophy
, logical atomism
and logical positivism
. Wilfrid Sellars
(1962) used the term 'synoptic'., The Anglo-American philosophy made a synoptic, synthetic turn explicitly during the last quarter of the last century, giving birth or rebirth to absolute idealism
, phenomenology, poststructuralism, psychologism
, historicism
, contextualism
, holism
, and the like.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, means the love of wisdom emerging from a coherent understanding of everything together.
Synoptic philosophy is simply a synthetic worldview embracing both thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
and antithesis
Antithesis
Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...
such as analysis
Analysis
Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle , though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.The word is...
and synthesis
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis
The triad thesis, antithesis, synthesis is often used to describe the thought of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel never used the term himself, and almost all of his biographers have been eager to discredit it....
, action and reaction
Reaction
Reaction may refer to:Response to another event*Adverse drug reaction*Chemical reaction*Emotional reaction*Light reaction*Nuclear reaction*TNA Reaction, a documentary show of TNA behind scenes.*Reaction , as defined by Newton's third law...
, explication
Explication
The idea and practice of explication is rooted in the verb to explicate, which concerns the process of "unfolding" and of "making clear" the meaning of things, so as to make the implicit explicit...
and implication
Implication
Implication may refer to:In logic:* Logical implication, entailment, or consequence, a relation between statements* Material implication, or conditional implication, a binary truth functionIn linguistics, specifically in pragmatics:...
, phenomenon
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
and noumenon
Noumenon
The noumenon is a posited object or event that is known without the use of the senses.The term is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to "phenomenon", which refers to anything that appears to, or is an object of, the senses...
, visible and invisible, just to name a few. As such, it may be compared to the Janus
Janus
-General:*Janus , the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings*Janus , a moon of Saturn*Janus Patera, a shallow volcanic crater on Io, a moon of Jupiter...
' extrovert and introvert
Extraversion and introversion
The trait of extraversion-introversion is a central dimension of human personality theories.Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out external stimulus. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be introspective, quiet and less sociable. They are not necessarily loners but...
vision, or the view on the iceberg
Iceberg
An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...
having the one-ninth surfaced tip and the eight-ninths submerged mass.
Phenomenology, attempting to bracket egocentrism
Egocentrism
Egocentrism is a personality trait which has the characteristic of regarding oneself and one's own opinions or interests as most important or valid...
, appears to be more synoptic than analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century...
, logical atomism
Logical atomism
Logical atomism is a philosophical belief that originated in the early 20th century with the development of analytic philosophy. Its principal exponents were the British philosopher Bertrand Russell, the early work of his Austrian-born pupil and colleague Ludwig Wittgenstein, and his German...
and logical positivism
Logical positivism
Logical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic...
. Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Stalker Sellars was an American philosopher. His father was the Canadian-American philosopher Roy Wood Sellars, a leading American philosophical naturalist in the first half of the twentieth-century...
(1962) used the term 'synoptic'., The Anglo-American philosophy made a synoptic, synthetic turn explicitly during the last quarter of the last century, giving birth or rebirth to absolute idealism
Absolute idealism
Absolute idealism is an ontologically monistic philosophy attributed to G. W. F. Hegel. It is Hegel's account of how being is ultimately comprehensible as an all-inclusive whole. Hegel asserted that in order for the thinking subject to be able to know its object at all, there must be in some...
, phenomenology, poststructuralism, psychologism
Psychologism
Psychologism is a generic type of position in philosophy according to which psychology plays a central role in grounding or explaining some other, non-psychological type of fact or law...
, historicism
Historicism
Historicism is a mode of thinking that assigns a central and basic significance to a specific context, such as historical period, geographical place and local culture. As such it is in contrast to individualist theories of knowledges such as empiricism and rationalism, which neglect the role of...
, contextualism
Contextualism
Contextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
, holism
Holism
Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone...
, and the like.
See also
- Absolute idealismAbsolute idealismAbsolute idealism is an ontologically monistic philosophy attributed to G. W. F. Hegel. It is Hegel's account of how being is ultimately comprehensible as an all-inclusive whole. Hegel asserted that in order for the thinking subject to be able to know its object at all, there must be in some...
- Phenomenology
- Poststructuralism
- HolismHolismHolism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone...
- ContextualismContextualismContextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
- PsychologismPsychologismPsychologism is a generic type of position in philosophy according to which psychology plays a central role in grounding or explaining some other, non-psychological type of fact or law...
- Social constructivismSocial constructivismSocial constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge that applies the general philosophical constructionism into social settings, wherein groups construct knowledge for one another, collaboratively creating a small culture of shared artifacts with shared meanings...
- New HistoricismNew HistoricismNew Historicism is a school of literary theory, grounded in critical theory, that developed in the 1980s, primarily through the work of the critic Stephen Greenblatt, and gained widespread influence in the 1990s....
- Systems thinkingSystems thinkingSystems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...