  We develop a new notion of independence suggested by Scanlon
(th-independence). We prove that in a large class of theories (which includes
all simple theories) this notion has many of the properties needed for an
adequate geometric structure in these models. We also prove that this
definition agrees with the usual independence notions in stable, supersimple
and o-minimal theories.
  Finally, many of the proofs and results we get for th-independence when
restricted to simple theories seem to show there is some connection between
th-independence and the stable forking conjecture. In particular, we prove that
in any simple theory where this conjecture holds, our definition agrees with
the classic definition.
