What does analyticity mean?
Analyticity is the property of being analytic, a concept central to two very different fields. In philosophy and logic, a statement has analyticity when its truth follows purely from the meanings of its own words — 'all bachelors are unmarried' is true by definition, requiring no investigation of the world. This contrasts with synthetic statements, whose truth depends on empirical fact. The notion traces back to Kant's distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments and became fiercely contested after W.V.O. Quine challenged its coherence in 1950. In mathematics, analyticity describes a function that can be represented locally by a convergent power series; such functions are remarkably well-behaved, with their values near any point determining their values everywhere. Though strictly academic in register, analyticity names one of the deepest questions about knowledge: whether anything can be known to be true simply by understanding what we mean.
nounThe quality or property of being analytic; in philosophy and logic, the property of a statement whose truth is established purely by the meanings of its terms, without appeal to empirical observation. In mathematics, it refers to the property of a function being locally expressible as a convergent power series.
- In philosophy and logic: the property of a statement that is true solely by virtue of the meanings of its terms (e.g. 'all bachelors are unmarried'), independent of any empirical fact.
- In mathematics: the property of a function that is locally given by a convergent power series, implying infinite differentiability.
"Kant argued that analyticity, unlike synthetic truth, can be grasped through definitions alone."
"The truth of 'all vixens are female' rests on analyticity: it follows from what 'vixen' means."
"Complex analysts prize analyticity because it guarantees that a function's behavior near one point determines its behavior everywhere nearby."
In 1950, philosopher W.V.O. Quine published 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism,' an attack on the very concept of analyticity that reshaped twentieth-century philosophy — all over whether some truths are true 'by definition.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of analyticity
Analyticity derives from the Greek noun 'análysis' (ἀνάλυσις), meaning 'a loosening up' or 'breaking down,' formed from 'aná' ('throughout') and 'lýsis' ('loosening'). The related adjective 'analytic' entered English via Latin 'analyticus' during the Renaissance revival of Greek learning, and the abstract noun 'analyticity' was coined later, likely in the nineteenth century, as philosophers formalized the notion of truths true by definition. Its cognates include analysis, analyze, and analyst, all descendants of the same Greek root.
Related word forms
How analyticity is actually used
A technical term used almost exclusively in academic philosophy, logic, linguistics, and mathematics; rarely encountered in everyday speech. In philosophy it is inseparable from the long-running debate over the analytic–synthetic distinction, which Kant introduced and Quine famously challenged.
Easily confused with analyticity
Analysis is the process of breaking something down into its components, while analyticity is the abstract property of statements or functions that can be understood or expressed analytically.