| | The synthesis is in the fact that although general theories can yield general solutions, in the real world, narrowing the solution set to a workable size generally requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Whether to build a dam in a particular location requires not just the physics of dams, or the engineering alternatives, but also the economic analysis, and the ecological impact on surrounding and downstream communities. That's just the start.
In algebra we learn that isolating a unique solution requires at least as many independent equations as there are independent variables. This is a good model of real-world problem solving.
Ethics, economics, psychology, aesthetics, mathematics and physics are all valid viewpoints on reality. There are hidden dependencies among them all to be sure, but it is possible to bring them itteratively to the analysis of real-world problems, reducing solution spaces to manageable sizes.
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The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
