This originally had picture examples, but I couldn’t paste them Mostly for the noobs.
- A thesis and an antithesis have to be relevant to each other’s truth value.In order for something to be relevant, it must have some bearing on the issue in question.
In order to know whether the antithesis has bearing on the issue in question (the thesis), and is therefore relevant, one must discern what the thesis is trying to assert or deny. An example; “Schools perform a valuable custodial function by keeping young people off the streetâ€
Who are the subjects of this thesis? Schools and young people.
Who/what is performing the action? Schools (The school is argued to have an effect upon the young people by keeping them off the street, the young people are the subject being acted upon by the school).
What is the action being performed? Schools perform a valuable, custodial function (in other words, the schools act as caretakers over the second subject, young people).
How is the action being performed? Keeping young people off the streets. (It is being argued that schools are helping to take care of young people by keeping them off the streets and that this is something valuable).
Now, if a proposed antithesis to this thesis had no bearing upon the claim that schools perform this function, that this function is valuable, or that keeping young people off the streets is a valuable custodial function, it would not be relevant.
The antithesis should dispute the claim of the thesis, therefore, it must have some relevance to, bearing upon, or something to do with the claim being made in the thesis.
- A thesis and an antithesis cannot both be true. If a thesis makes a claim, and the antithesis disputes or disagrees with this claim, then it is a suitable antithesis. If the antithesis does not dispute or disagree with the claim made by the thesis, it is not suitable.
Points to remember:
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What is the claim(s) made by the thesis?
First figure out what claim is being made by the thesis, what is it trying to assert or deny? -
Does the proposed antithesis have some bearing on the claim(s) made by the thesis? Does the antithesis have any effect on the truth of the claim being made by the thesis, or is it irrelevant?
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Is the claim(s) made by the thesis disputed by the antithesis? An antithesis tries to dispute a claim(s) made by the thesis. If a proposed antithesis does not dispute the claim(s) made by the thesis, it is not a suitable antithesis.
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Can the thesis still be true even if the proposed antithesis is true? Can the claim made by the thesis be true if the proposed antithesis is true as well?