What Is Synthetic Thinking And What Is It Used For?

What is synthetic thinking? Before we go into details, remember that thoughts are a product of the brain. They appear due to different processes, whether they are rational and logical or more abstract processes (such as imagination).

The renowned American educator and philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952), for his part, defined thought as a result of what we already know, our memory and what we perceive.

According to Dewey, by using these three aspects, we make sense of events and create and invent ideas. Thoughts arise from this. But fortunately, there is not just one way of thinking, but many. Some thought processes make us reflect, while others make us argue, analyze, synthesize, summarize and explore.

Today we will take a closer look at a specific way of thinking : synthetic thinking. How to define it? What is it for? What examples can you give to illustrate that? Find out in this article.

What is synthetic thinking?

If you look at the etymology of the word, the term synthesis as we know it comes from Latin. Looking even further, however, you will notice that it is derived from a Greek verb. This term refers to a presentation of a whole thanks to the focus on the most interesting or outstanding parts. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines synthesis as the composition or combination of parts or elements to form a whole.

Well, now you know what synthesis is. But what about synthetic thinking? It is the kind of thinking a person uses when they need to reduce the dimensions of objects or processes they are learning about, to condense them or combine them into a smaller product. This product contains the most outstanding parts of each section. That way , you can look at many different parts as a whole instead of individually, and help simplify things.

Examples

Synthetic thinking can be a way to study the different organs in the human body. For example, you will find the organs in larger systems (including the endocrine, digestive, cardiovascular and nervous systems). At the same time, these systems work in an even larger system, the human body itself. Considering the smaller components as part of a larger system is one way of using synthetic thinking.

Another example where this type of thinking is helpful is to help you come to conclusions in conversations or debates. It is also what you use to summarize a text, an experience, a book, a movie, etc.

Related to analytical thinking

Analytical thinking is the opposite of synthetic thinking. While analytical thinking aims to break something down into smaller, independent parts, synthetic thinking groups information together.

On the other hand, analytical thinking tries to solve or explain each part, as well as put together these explanations to define the whole. With synthetic thinking, the opposite happens: The smaller parts come together to create a meaningful whole.

To make it more visual and better understand these concepts, imagine a hospital team. If you used analytical thinking, you would analyze each member of the team individually (their contributions, interests, and tasks).

However, by using synthetic thinking, you will take each member of the team and unite them as a whole. In other words, you will reflect on what the team can achieve together, the benefits, how they work as a whole, etc.

The creation of synthetic thinking

Why did we also mention analytical thinking above? Because this type of thinking, along with synthetic thinking, creates what is called systemic thinking. For its part, systemic thinking allows you to interpret a whole that consists of different parts to make decisions.

You can also find other definitions for this type of thinking, such as the one suggested by Francisco Saez. Saez confirms that systemic thinking tries to understand the guidelines that determine how different systems behave, how they interact and how they affect each other. In other words, it is a type of thinking that is very far-reaching and connects different things to each other.

In this article, we have looked at different types of thoughts. However, the idea you can take with you is that every way of thinking can be useful for one task or another. After all, the most important thing is cognitive flexibility. This allows you to adapt all types of thoughts to the task.

As we have seen, you can use synthetic thinking to group together or unite crucial information. Therefore, it can be very useful in academic assignments or when you need to summarize information or find important ideas.