🧵 Artificial, not natural 🧪 An artificial substance 🔗 Combining ideas 📊 Based on facts 🗣️ Complex word forms

synthetic

1 7.0

A statement whose truth must be checked by facts

adjective
/sɪnˈθɛtɪk/

Specialized

: sintético

In philosophy, synthetic judgments are those whose truth can only be determined through experience and observation.

And you know, he says that's not sufficient to show the truth of synthetic judgments.

Examples

As used by philosophers, "synthetic," as distinguished from analytic, means an assertion that goes beyond what is already implied by the meanings of the terms being used.

Academic text (2005)
The scientist explained that a synthetic proposition is one whose truth relies on measurable data rather than just logic.
So first, we should start out by thinking about, well, what are synthetic judgments?
These employ the analytic, not the synthetic method.

Academic text (2009)
A central empiricist tenet is that there are no synthetic a priori truths.

Academic text (2005)
They are (1) two-minute problems, used to generate discussion in class; (2) basic-skill problems, which exercise students in a single skill or concept; (3) "synthetic" problems, requiring students to synthesize several skills or ideas.

Academic text (1996)
Understanding synthetic truths requires observing how evidence confirms or falsifies claims rather than relying on language alone.

Synonyms

synthetical

vssynthetic

Specialized

9.9

A statement you must check by observing things, not by logic

shares the same empirical truth idea but differs only in word form

Antonyms

analytic

Specialized

7.3

True from the meaning of its words, not from facts or experience

Compounds

synthetic rubber

Specialized

1 4.0

A man-made stretchy material made with chemicals like natural rubber

synthetic fiber

Specialized

1 4.0

A fiber made using chemicals, not from plants or animals

synthetic heroin

NSFW

1 7.2

A man-made drug like morphine that helps people addicted to heroin avoid withdrawal symptoms

synthetic substance

Specialized

1 4.1

People make it in a lab or factory rather than find it in nature

synthetic cubism

Specialized

9.6

A later painting style with simple shapes, bright colors, and glued paper pieces

synthetic language

Specialized

9.4

A language that shows grammar by adding endings or small parts to words

synthetic resin

Specialized

4.6

A man-made sticky material used to make plastics

synthetic thinking

7.4

Combining ideas from different fields to make a single clear whole

Surface Forms

synthetic positive

Morphology

synthetic = synthesis (opaque) = synthesis + ic

Although historically related to 'synthesis', the philosophical/epistemological meaning ('truth dependent on observation') is technical and not derivable from the base by standard word-formation reasoning for average learners.

Etymology

Synthetic in philosophy comes from synthesis ('put together'), and a synthetic statement is one that adds facts from experience to our ideas, so you must 'put together' observation and meaning to check it.