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From Nordan Symposia
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==Description==
'''Antithesis''' ([[Greek]] for "setting opposite", from ἀντί "against" + θέσις "position") is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct [[contrast]] to the [[original]] [[proposition]]. In setting the opposite, an [[individual]] brings out of a contrast in the [[meaning]] (e.g., the definition, [[interpretation]], or semantics) by an obvious contrast in the [[expression]].
==Description==
A simple enumeration of the elements of dialectics is that of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis_or_dissertation thesis], antithesis, [[synthesis]]. Hell is the antithesis of [[Heaven]]; [[Chaos|disorder]] is the antithesis of [[Cosmos|order]]. It is the juxtaposition of contrasting [[ideas]], usually in a [[balanced]] way. In [[rhetoric]], it is a [[figure of speech]] involving the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the [[words]], clauses, or sentences, within a [[parallel]] grammatical [[structure]], as in the following:
<blockquote>"When there is need of [[silence]], you speak, and when there is need of [[speech]], you are dumb; when you are [[present]], you wish to be [[absent]], and when absent, you [[desire]] to be present; in [[peace]] you are for [[war]], and in war you long for peace; in council you descant on bravery, and in the battle you tremble."</blockquote>
Antithesis is sometimes double or alternate, as in the appeal of Augustus:
:"Listen, young men, to an old man to whom old men were glad to listen when he was young."
Some other examples of antithesis are:
:A) Man proposes, God disposes.
:B) Give everyman thy ear, but few thy [[voice]].
:C) Many are called, but few are chosen.
Among [[English]] [[writers]] who have made the most [[abundant]] use of antithesis are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope Pope], Young, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson Johnson], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon Gibbon]; and especially [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lyly Lyly] in his Euphues. It is, however, a much more common feature in French than in English; while in German, with some striking exceptions, it is conspicuous by its [[absence]]. The familiar phrase “Man proposes: God disposes” is an example of antithesis, as is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dryden John Dryden]'s description in ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hind_and_the_Panther The Hind and the Panther]'': “Too black for [[heaven]], and yet too white for hell.”
The [[force]] of the antithesis is increased if the [[words]] on which the beat of the [[contrast]] falls are alliterative, or otherwise similar in [[sound]]. It gives an [[expression]] greater point and vivacity... than a judicious employment of this figure.
[[Category: Philosophy]]
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
==Description==
'''Antithesis''' ([[Greek]] for "setting opposite", from ἀντί "against" + θέσις "position") is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct [[contrast]] to the [[original]] [[proposition]]. In setting the opposite, an [[individual]] brings out of a contrast in the [[meaning]] (e.g., the definition, [[interpretation]], or semantics) by an obvious contrast in the [[expression]].
==Description==
A simple enumeration of the elements of dialectics is that of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis_or_dissertation thesis], antithesis, [[synthesis]]. Hell is the antithesis of [[Heaven]]; [[Chaos|disorder]] is the antithesis of [[Cosmos|order]]. It is the juxtaposition of contrasting [[ideas]], usually in a [[balanced]] way. In [[rhetoric]], it is a [[figure of speech]] involving the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the [[words]], clauses, or sentences, within a [[parallel]] grammatical [[structure]], as in the following:
<blockquote>"When there is need of [[silence]], you speak, and when there is need of [[speech]], you are dumb; when you are [[present]], you wish to be [[absent]], and when absent, you [[desire]] to be present; in [[peace]] you are for [[war]], and in war you long for peace; in council you descant on bravery, and in the battle you tremble."</blockquote>
Antithesis is sometimes double or alternate, as in the appeal of Augustus:
:"Listen, young men, to an old man to whom old men were glad to listen when he was young."
Some other examples of antithesis are:
:A) Man proposes, God disposes.
:B) Give everyman thy ear, but few thy [[voice]].
:C) Many are called, but few are chosen.
Among [[English]] [[writers]] who have made the most [[abundant]] use of antithesis are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope Pope], Young, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson Johnson], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon Gibbon]; and especially [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lyly Lyly] in his Euphues. It is, however, a much more common feature in French than in English; while in German, with some striking exceptions, it is conspicuous by its [[absence]]. The familiar phrase “Man proposes: God disposes” is an example of antithesis, as is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dryden John Dryden]'s description in ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hind_and_the_Panther The Hind and the Panther]'': “Too black for [[heaven]], and yet too white for hell.”
The [[force]] of the antithesis is increased if the [[words]] on which the beat of the [[contrast]] falls are alliterative, or otherwise similar in [[sound]]. It gives an [[expression]] greater point and vivacity... than a judicious employment of this figure.
[[Category: Philosophy]]
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
