Synthetic and analytical thinking

Summary It is shown that scientific research is not a linear process of information gaining, of accumulating data and facts, but is rather to be characterized by a model showing the cyclic structure of data gathering and construction of theories, of inductive and deductive methods. Analytical and synthetic methods are linked together and are building inseparable components of the texture of science.

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Synthetisches und analytisches Denken

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Presented at the First International Symposium on History and Philosophy in Analytical Chemistry, Vienna, November 22–23, 1985