Presented as a thesis, I wonder if this is a thesis beyond Definition 2?
Is this a thesis?
Um, by which definition of “thesis” do you want to evaluate it? It’s definitely a proposition which one could proclaim, essay in favor of, put up for debate, or what have you. It’s definitely not a lengthy writeup which culminates in the granting of a degree, and it’s certainly not the accented downstroke of a passage of music. I suppose it could be the first stage of a Hegelian dialectic; anything could. But clearly, it’s the first of these definitions that they’re going for in using the word; why would you doubt that?
The entire quote is too long to be a thesis. It includes comment and begins argument. The first sentence is a thesis.
‘Man obtains information about God by exploring the material world.’
This is a thesis?
…and by ‘definition 2’ I mean, in the link, def. 3 or beyond: is it more than simply a topic of conversation?
Is a thesis something beyond simply a topic of conversation?
Definition 3 or beyond?
You’re asking us if this line is either:
3. A dissertation produced in order to gain a diploma or degree
4. The downward stroke in conducting; the accented beat of a musical measure
5. A part of a metrical foot not bearing the stress, or, less commonly, bearing the stress
6. The first stage of a Hegelian dialectic
The author’s use of the word “thesis” is very clearly not meant to be defs 3 through 5, and there’s no reason to suppose it’s meant to be 6 either. It’s meant as definition 1, “a proposition stated or put forward for consideration, esp. one to be discussed and proved or to be maintained against objections”. It doesn’t have to be anything beyond simply a topic of conversation, though there are certainly connotations attached to use of the word “thesis” rather than the phrase “topic of conversation”.
I’m confused, and I don’t think it’s entirely my fault.
‘Man obtains information about God by exploring the material world.’
Is this a thesis beyond the simple definition of it being a sentence which could or could not spawn discussion.
It’s a thesis in the sense that it is a proposition put forward for consideration by one who intends to maintain it against objections, considering it as some sort of important guiding principle. Which is clearly the sense of the word being employed by the author who called it that (the same sense as in referring to Martin Luther’s famed “theses”). I don’t understand why you would be driven to question this, or repeatedly ask about anything else.