ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

Contextual explanation · NAV-G02-007

Analysis

This explanation addresses the term in its originating context. It is not an additional canonical Atlas profile.

Explanation

Analysis here means dividing a representation treated as a whole according to explicit criteria and examining relationships among its parts. The originating link from merismus concerns the relationship between naming parts and representing a whole. A rhetorical list can make a whole vivid without exhaustively or systematically identifying its components. Analytical work states its criteria and the question the division is intended to answer. This orientation entry does not claim a single definition for every philosophical or scientific method of analysis.

Movement of thought

1. Specify the unit under examination. 2. State a criterion of division. 3. Distinguish parts from their relationships. 4. Check omissions and alternative divisions.

Example

Constructed: “Roof, walls and foundations were destroyed.” Naming parts conveys damage to the house. An analysis would additionally specify whether it examines materials, functions or the sequence of events.

Counter-test

A long list is not yet an analysis if its selection rules and relationships remain unclear.

Scientific use case

A rhetorical study could compare the parts named in merisms and the conceptions of a whole supported by their omissions.

Effect

Division can expose assumptions that remain unnoticed in an overall description.

Resonance

The whole gives up its seamless surface and reveals its connections.

Distinction

Distinguish analysis from enumeration, description, proof and synthesis; identify the particular method.

Sources