A Synthetic Turn

Common Knowledge 32 (1):18-35 (2026)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This essay calls for a synthetic turn in philosophy, moving beyond the emphasis in analytic philosophy on decomposition toward practices of problematization and constructive world-making. By examining definitions, judgments, ethical postulates, and disciplines, it demonstrates how synthesis expands conceptual horizons and generates new frameworks. In an era of artificial intelligence and virtual realities, philosophy had best evolve from analysis to design — becoming a kind of metaphysical engineering for the future.

Other Versions

No versions found

Similar books and articles

Pierce’s Incomplete Synthetic Turn.Giovanni Maddalena - 2012 - Review of Metaphysics 65 (3):613-640.
From Analysis to Synthesis: Conceiving a Transformative Metaphysics for the Twenty-First Century.Mikhail Epstein - 2020 - In Mikhail Sergeev, Alexander Nikolaevich Chumakov & Mary Elizabeth Theis, Russian Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century: An Anthology. Boston: Brill | Rodopi. pp. 74–100.
Speculative Naturalism: A Manifesto.Arran Gare - 2014 - Cosmos and History 10 (2):300-323.
The Truths of Metaphysics.Henry Veatch - 1964 - Review of Metaphysics 17 (3):372 - 395.

Analytics

Added to PP
2026-06-19

Downloads
39 (#1,397,059)

6 months
39 (#219,990)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Mikhail Epstein
Emory University

References found in this work

Ways of worldmaking.Nelson Goodman - 1978 - Hassocks [Eng.]: Harvester Press.
The Philosophy of Logical Atomism.Bertrand Russell - 1918 - The Monist 29 (3):345-380.
Critical social ontology.Kevin Richardson - 2023 - Synthese 201 (6):1-19.
Dialogues concerning natural religion.David Hume - 1710 - New York: Barnes & Noble.

View all 11 references / Add more references