Editing Antithesis

{{Short description|Topic in philosophy; something that is the opposite of something else}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date = January 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = January 2019}}
'''Antithesis''' ({{plural form}}: '''antitheses'''; [[Greek language|Greek]] for "setting opposite", from {{lang|grc|ἀντι-}} "against" and {{lang|grc|θέσις}} "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.<ref>{{Cite journal | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QCzeDfeUe30C&q=Antithesis+figure+of+speech&pg=PA168 | title = English Kumarbharati Grammar,Language Study & Writing Skills Std.X | last1 = Ferreira | first1 = Gladwyn}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9xF14SzHIBAC&q=Antithesis+figure+of+speech&pg=PA111 | title = The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language | isbn = 978-1406846577 | last1 = Cody | first1 = Sherwin | date = 2007-12-31| publisher = Echo Library }}</ref>

Antithesis can be defined as "a [[figure of speech]] involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced grammatical structure. Parallelism of expression serves to emphasize opposition of ideas".<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Antithesis|title=The Columbia Encyclopedia|year=1963 |url=https://archive.org/details/columbiaencyclop15brid|url-access=registration|publisher=Columbia University Press}}</ref>

An antithesis must always contain two ideas within one statement. The ideas may not be structurally opposite, but they serve to be functionally opposite when comparing two ideas for emphasis.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lloyd|first1=Alfred|title=The Logic of Antithesis|journal=The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods|date=25 May 1911|volume=8|issue=11|pages=281–289|doi=10.2307/2013034|jstor=2013034}}</ref>

According to [[Aristotle]], the use of an antithesis makes the audience better understand the point the speaker is trying to make. Further explained, the comparison of two situations or ideas makes choosing the correct one simpler. Aristotle states that antithesis in rhetoric is similar to [[syllogism]] due to the presentation of two conclusions within a statement.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Preminger|first1=Alex|last2=Brogan|first2=T.V.F.|title=Antithesis|date=1993|publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref>

Antitheses are used to strengthen an argument by using either exact opposites or simply contrasting ideas, but can also include both. They typically make a sentence more memorable for the reader or listener through balance and [[wikt:emphasis|emphasis]] of the words.<ref>Nick Skellon, "Antithesis: examples and definition," Speak Like A Pro. 2013</ref>

== Rhetorical antithesis ==
In [[rhetoric]], antithesis is a figure of speech involving the bringing out of a contrast in the [[idea]]s by an obvious contrast in the [[word]]s, [[clause]]s, or [[sentence (linguistics)|sentences]], within a parallel grammatical structure.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Antithesis|volume=2|pages=146-147}}</ref>

The term "antithesis" in rhetoric goes back to the 4th century BC, for example Aristotle, ''[[Rhetoric (Aristotle)|Rhetoric]]'', 1410a, in which he gives a series of examples.

An antithesis can be a simple statement contrasting two things, using a parallel structure:

*I defended the Republic as a '''young man'''; I shall not desert her now that I am '''old'''. ([[Cicero]], ''2nd Philippic'', 2.118)

Often there is a double antithesis, as in the following proverb, where "man" is opposed to "God", and "proposes" is contrasted with "disposes":

*'''Man proposes''', '''God disposes'''. (anonymous)

Another type is of the form "not A, but B" (negative-positive), in which the point made is emphasised by first being contrasted with its negative:

*I came not to bring '''peace''' but a '''sword'''. ([[Gospel of Matthew|St Matthew's Gospel]], 10:34)

Another type involves an [[antimetabole]] (AB, BA word order), in which the contrasted words switch places:

*In '''peace''' you long for '''war''', and in '''war''' you long for '''peace'''.
*Two things show feebleness of mind: '''holding your breath''' at the time for '''speaking''', and '''speaking''' when you should be '''silent'''. ([[Saadi Shirazi|Saadi]])

The negative-positive antithesis and the antimetabole-antithesis can be combined, as in the following sentence:
*Ask not what '''your country''' can do for '''you''' – ask what '''you''' can do for '''your country'''. – [[Inauguration of John F. Kennedy]], 1961.

An antithesis can also be combined with synonymous [[Parallelism (rhetoric)|parallelism]]. In the following example, the first (A, A') and second couplet (B, B') are parallel synonymously with the same adverb and verb combination distinguishing the couplets: "still do"/"still be"//"still do"/"still be." An antithesis is formed with line A contrasting "evil" with "right" in line B.  Line A' contrasts the "filthy" with the "holy" in line B'.<ref>Craig R. Koester, 2014. Revelation (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014), 853.</ref>
::•	A Let the evildoer still do evil, 
::•	A' and the filthy still be filthy,
::•	B and the righteous still do right. 
::•	B' and the holy still be holy (Revelation 22:11).

Twentieth-century rhetorician [[Kenneth Burke]] discusses the rhetorical aesthetic and stylistic effects of antithesis in one of the most referenced passages of ''A Rhetoric of Motives'', one of his most famous works. In that book, Burke describes how antithesis can invite people to hold an "attitude of collaborative expectancy"<ref>Burke, Kenneth. ''A Rhetoric of Motives''. University of California Press, 1969. p. 58.</ref> through the rhetorical aesthetic principle of form.<ref>Slater, Jarron. "Attitudes of Collaborative Expectancy: Antithesis, Gradatio, and A Rhetoric of Motives, Page 58." ''Rhetoric Review'' 37.3 (2018): 247-258.</ref>

=== Some literary examples ===
Some other examples of antithesis are:

* Give '''every''' man '''thy ear''', but '''few''' thy '''voice'''. ([[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Hamlet]]'')
* For '''many''' are '''called''', but '''few''' are '''chosen.''' ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A14&version=RSVCE Matthew 22:14])
* Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing '''great''' or '''small''', '''large''' or '''petty''', never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. (by [[Winston Churchill]])
* It was the '''best''' of times, it was the '''worst''' of times, it was the age of '''wisdom''', it was the age of '''foolishness''', it was the epoch of '''belief''', it was the epoch of '''incredulity''', it was the season of '''Light''', it was the season of '''Darkness''', it was the '''spring of hope''', it was the '''winter of despair''', we had '''everything''' before us, we had '''nothing''' before us, we were all going direct to '''Heaven''', we were all going direct the '''other way'''... ([[Charles Dickens]], ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'')
* We must learn to '''live together''' as '''brothers''' or '''perish together''' as '''fools'''. ([[Martin Luther King Jr.]], speech at [[St. Louis]], 1964.)
* The world will little note, nor long remember '''what we say here''', but it can never forget '''what they did here'''. ([[Abraham Lincoln]], [[The Gettysburg Address]], 1863.)
* He who desires '''peace''', should prepare for '''war'''. ([[Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus|Vegetius]], ''Epitoma Rei Militaris'', book 3, introduction.)
* For '''now''' we see in a mirror dimly, but '''then''' face to face. '''Now''' I know in part; '''then''' I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. (St Paul, 1st Epistle to the Corinthians 13:12, Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition)
* My '''men''' have become '''women''', and my '''women''', '''men'''. (King [[Xerxes I|Xerxes]] at the [[Battle of Salamis]] (480 BC), according to [[Herodotus]] 8.88.3)
* Senator, in everything I said about Iraq '''I''' turned out to be '''right''' and '''you''' turned out to be '''wrong'''. ([[George Galloway]] at a US Senate hearing, May 2005.)<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4557279.stm BBC News online, 17 May 2005].</ref>
* I'm not saying that '''this or that statue''' was stolen from there; I'm saying this, that you, Verres, left '''not one single statue''' in Aspendus. ([[Cicero]], ''In Verrem'', 2.1.53.)
* I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the '''color of their skin''' but by the '''content of their character'''. ([[Martin Luther King Jr.]], 1963.)
* For contemplation he and valour formed, For softness she and sweet attractive grace; He for God only, she for God in him. (John Milton, Paradise Lost)

== The "Antitheses" in St Matthew's Gospel ==
{{main|Matthew 5#Antitheses}}

''Matthew's Antitheses'' is the traditional name given to a section of the [[Sermon on the Mount]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Matt.|5:17–48}}</ref> where [[Jesus]] takes six well known prescriptions of the [[613 Mitzvot|Mosaic Law]] and calls his followers to do more than the Law requires. [[Protestantism|Protestant]] scholars since the Reformation have generally believed that Jesus was setting his teaching over against false interpretations of the Law current at the time. "Antithesis" was the name given by [[Marcion of Sinope]] to a manifesto in which he contrasted the [[Old Testament]] with the [[New Testament]] and defined what came to be known as [[Marcionism]].

== In philosophical discussion ==
{{See also|Thesis, antithesis, synthesis|Dialectic}}
In [[dialectic]]s (any formal system of reasoning that arrives at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments) antithesis is the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, usually in a balanced way. The logical arguments are said to be stated in the order [[thesis, antithesis, synthesis]].

Although this style of philosophical discussion (stating a point of view, then its opposite, and finally drawing a conclusion) was commonly used by ancient philosophers,<ref>E.g. Cicero, ''de Officiis'' 3.54-57.</ref> the use of the trio "thesis, antithesis, synthesis" itself to describe it goes back only to the 18th century, to a work published in 1794 by the German philosopher [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]].<ref>Williams, Robert R. (1992). ''Recognition: Fichte and Hegel on the Other''. SUNY Press. p. 46, note 37.</ref>

The phrase is sometimes incorrectly stated to originate from the German philosopher [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]]. However, Hegel never actually used the trio of terms except once in a lecture, in which he reproached [[Immanuel Kant]] for having "everywhere posited thesis, antithesis, synthesis".<ref>Kaufmann,
 Walter, ''Hegel: A Reinterpretation'', 1966, Anchor Books, p.154.</ref>

== See also ==
{{wiktionary}}
* [[Alternative hypothesis]]
* [[Dialectical materialism]]
* [[Dialectic]]
* [[Opposite (semantics)|Opposite]]
* [[Antimetabole]]
* [[Figure of speech]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.charlesumlauf.com/antithesis.htm] - Antithesis in Plato's ''Euthydemus'' and ''Lysis''

{{Figures of speech}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Figures of speech]]
[[Category:Rhetoric]]