Synthetic-Analytic Comparison
Created | Updated Mar 24, 2003
When we give a subject synthetic treatment we determine its attributes by observation rather than by analysis of the subject's nature. In an analytic treatment we separate the subject into its component parts or constituent elements to find out how it works and why.
Both processes are useful, yet we tend to spend more effort on analytics than synthetics. For example, we can analyse the human body to discover vast information about how it works, but it doesn't tell us much about the mysterious workings of the mind and its higher levels of consciousness because the composition of our bodies produce a synergism that is our conscious mind, our soul, our spirit—each of us is greater than the sum of the parts.
Synthetics is a macro, whereas analytics is a micro activity.