thesis

The thesis (from ancient Greek θέσις thésis , German 'established sentence, claim' ) denotes an assertion to be proven or a guiding principle. The counter-assertion can be an antithesis .

definition

A thesis is a thought or sentence, the truth of which requires proof . The author of a thesis claims the truth . If the thesis is not tenable, it must be rejected. Otherwise the thesis can be retained. In general, a thesis is a statement that pragmatically emphasizes or emphasizes the essentials of a complex of statements . If a thesis is wrong, no kind of argument can substantiate it. The evidence depends on the type of appropriate rules (see below).

The difference between a theorem and a thesis falls within the pragmatic realm of the doctrine of the proposition.

A working thesis is a preliminary thesis.

The difference between thesis, theorem and theory should now be illustrated using an example:

Theory: The microeconomic theory deals with the decisions of and in individual economies
Theorem: Within the scope of microeconomic theory, Coase formulated the famous Coase theorem . It describes how - under certain conditions of the theory - the markets deal with external effects.
Thesis: Another scientist now wants to develop a valid theorem and puts forward a thesis that he has yet to prove. If even the thesis itself is scientifically controversial or based on controversial basic assumptions, it initially only forms a so-called working hypothesis.

History of the term

The concept of the thesis comes from ancient philosophy. In a dialectical argument , the thesis represents the attitude of the interviewee (XYZ is the case or XYZ is not the case), which he maintains over the period of the argument. In the question-and-answer game, the aim of the questioner is to get the respondent to move away from the thesis by entangling him in contradictions. For this reason Aristotle is of the opinion that logical reasoning is practiced in the dialectical argument. In this sense, the thesis is the making of an assertion.

Occasionally make theses for much inflammable material, such as in 1517, the 95 theses of Martin Luther against the drain practice. Originally, these theses were attached to a letter to the Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg. The 95 theses are formulated in the style of disputation theses , as they were common at the time for academic doctorates , and were written in Latin . The publication of Luther's 95 theses was one of the most significant events in the early modern period with an unpredictable long-term effect. Historians consider the publication of these theses to be the trigger for the Reformation in Germany.

In each of the four antinomies of pure reason, Immanuel Kant contrasts the thesis with an antithesis. Kant argues that one can justify the thesis and the antithesis well. Therefore, neither the thesis nor the antithesis can be correct. Rather, reason is inevitably entangled in contradictions when it thinks about the soul, the whole of the world or God and argues, for example, for free will (thesis) or for determinism (antithesis). Johann Gottlieb Fichte, on the other hand, is of the opinion, on the basis of the entire science of science , that by means of synthesis, the same can be found in the opposites of thesis and antithesis. Fichte demonstrates the play of thesis, antithesis and synthesis on the concepts of the I and the not-I.

Scientific theses

In the philosophy of science , one form of thesis is the hypothesis . A scientific thesis is not subject to any special set of rules.

To the natural sciences to increase the acceptance of a thesis in a scientific environment, a thesis should

be a clear and well-defined judgment ,
be falsifiable ,
remain identical during their representation ,
do not contradict any other accepted thesis,
do not restrict any other accepted thesis,
contain no logical contradiction ,
be substantiated by verifiable facts ,
not be an evident judgment.

One example is the derivation of Kepler's laws of planetary orbits (theorem) from Newton's theory of motions.

Thesis as a term in other languages

In France, thesis also refers to the dissertation ( thèse de doctorat ), similar to thesis in the Anglo-Saxon language area.

Web links

Wiktionary: thesis - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

^ Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary . G. Freytag Verlag / Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Munich / Vienna 1965.
↑ See HWPh Volume 10, 1175.
^ S. Aristotle: Top. VIII, 5, 159 a 25-37; 14, 163 a 29.
↑ S. A 444 / B 472 ff.
^ S. GA I, 2.274.

[GEMOLL-1] Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary . G. Freytag Verlag / Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Munich / Vienna 1965.

[2] See HWPh Volume 10, 1175.

[3] S. Aristotle: Top. VIII, 5, 159 a 25-37; 14, 163 a 29.

[4] S. A 444 / B 472 ff.

[5] S. GA I, 2.274.