The Dialectic AKA The Hegelian Dialectic AKA Hegelian Synthesis

[related: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Johann Gottlieb Fichte]

---

A philosophical method of argument stating that any irresolvable conflict features two oppositional sides, and that each side contains elements of truth. The purpose of the dialectic is to facilitate a resolution between the two sides that fully incorporates the most accurate aspects of each. Oft associated with German metaphysicist Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (or heɪɡəl in German), The Dialectic, as it is commonly known, has been adapted and used in any number of fields of study, industry, and politic, including psychotherapy and modern agnostic dharma, and factors heavily in the use of black box cybernetics as it pertains to the development of sentient artificial intelligence.

The Dialectic is most often portrayed as consisting of:

• Thesis: an idea or event that is the starting point, or main idea.
• Antithesis: the opposite of the thesis, or the idea or event that is the opposite of the main idea.
• Synthesis: the resolution of the conflict between the thesis and antithesis via incorporation of the most logical elements of each.

The Dialectic is not a static or linear process, but a dynamically cyclical one. The three parts of the dialectic are interconnected and interdependent and in a constant state of flux. Notably, thesis, antithesis, and synthesis are not expressions used by Hegel himself. The terms stem from Johann Gottlieb Fichte , Hegel's provincial and quite unkempt former protegé. Said Hegel, "Fichte's sloppy triadic idea...is unfortunate because it confuses the issues". Hegel instead employed the terms "abstract" and "negative" to describe the thesis and antithesis, respectively, and "concrete" to describe the synthesis. As with much of Hegel's work, The Dialectic has been widely criticized for relying heavily on metaphysical and pseudo-intellectual concepts resulting in the oversimplification of complex ideas or events.