Eclecticism

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(Greekek, legein;Latineligere, to select)

Aphilosophical term meaning either a tendency of mind in a thinker to conciliate the different views or positions taken in regard to problems, or a system inphilosophy which seeks the solution of its fundamental problems by selecting and uniting what it regards astrue in the variousphilosophicalschools. In the first sense, eclecticism is a characteristic of all the greatphilosophers, with special development in some, such as Leibniz; an element of the integral method ofphilosophy more or less emphasized in the diversschools. The termeclectics, however, is properly applied to those who accept Eclecticism as thetrue and fundamental system ofphilosophy. It is with Eclecticism in this strict sense that we are dealing here.

As a rule, in the history ofphilosophy, Eclecticism follows a period of scepticism. In presence of conflicting doctrines regarding nature, life, andGod, thehumanmind despairs of attaining scientific and exactknowledge about these important subjects. Eclecticism then aims at constructing a system broad and vague enough to include, or not to exclude, the principles of the diversschools, though giving at times more importance to those of oneschool, and apparently sufficient to furnish a basis for the conduct of life. In the latter period of Greek philosophy, during the two centuries preceding theChristian Era and the three centuries following, Eclecticism is represented among theEpicureans by Asclepiades of Bithynia; among theStoics byBoethius, Panetius ofRhodes, (about 180-110 ), Posidonius (about 50 ), and later on by the neo-Cynics, Demetrius and Demonax (about 150); in the New Academy by Philo ofLarissa (about 80 ) and Antiochus ofAscalon (died 68 ); in the Peripatetic School by Andronicus of Rhodes (about 70 ), the editor and commentator of the works ofAristotle, and later on by Aristocles (about 180), Alexander of Aphrodisias (about 200), the physician Galen ( 131-201), Porphyry in the third, and Simplicius in the sixth, century of our era. The eclectic system was, by its character, the one which was best suited to the practical mind of the Romans. With the exception of Lucretius'sdoctrine, their speculative philosophy was always and altogether eclectic, whileStoicism dominated in theirethical philosophy. Cicero is, inRome, the best representative of thisschool. His philosophy is a mixture of the scepticism of the Middle Academy withStoicism and Peripateticism. The School of the Sextians, with Quintus Sextius (80 ), Sotion, and Celsus, was partlyStoic and Cynic, partly Pythagorean. Under the empire, Seneca, Epictetus the slave, and theEmperor Marcus Aurelius combined the principles ofStoicism with some doctrines taken fromPlatonism. Theneo-Platonic School of Alexandria, in the second and third centuries after Christ, is considered by some as eclectic; but the designation is not exact. Theschool borrows, indeed, many of its principles from Pythagoreanism,Stoicism, Peripateticism, and especially fromPlatonism; but all these doctrines are dominated by and interpreted according to certain principles of religiousmysticism which make thisneo-Platonism an original thoughsyncretic system. The same may be said of theChristian writers of thisschool who take some of theirphilosophical principles from the dominant systems, but who are guided in their choice as well as in their interpretation by the teaching ofChristian revelation.

In modern times Eclecticism has been accepted inGermany by Wolff and his disciples. It has received its most characteristic form inFrance in the nineteenth century from Victor Cousin (1792-1867) and hisschool, which is sometimes called theSpiritualistic School. Drawn away from sensualism by the teaching ofRoyer Collard, Cousin seeks in the Scottish School a sufficient foundation for the chief metaphysical, moral, and religioustruths. Failing in this attempt, he takes up the different doctrines then current; he is successively influenced by Maine de Biran whom he calls "the greatest metaphysician of our time", by the writings ofKant, and by personal intercourse with Schelling andHegel; finally, he turns to the works ofPlato, Plotinus, and Proclus, only to come back toDescartes and Leibniz. He then reaches the conclusion that the successive systems elaborated throughout the preceding ages contain the full development of human thought; that the completetruth is to be found in a system resulting from thehappy fusion, under the guidance of common sense, of the fragmentary thoughts expressed by the different thinkers andschools of all ages. Four great systems, he says, express and summarize the whole development of human speculation: sensism,idealism, scepticism, andmysticism. Each contains a part of thetruth; none possesses exclusively the wholetruth. Human thought cannot invent any new system, nor can it neglect any of the old ones. Not the destruction of any of, but the reduction of all to one, will put us in possession of thetruth.

There is, indeed, somethingtrue in Eclecticism. It would be folly for each thinker to deliberately ignore all that has been said and taught before him; such a method would render progress impossible. The experience andknowledge acquired by past ages is a factor in the development of human thought. The history ofphilosophy is useful; it places at our disposal thetruths already discovered, and by showing us theerrors into which philosophy has fallen, it guards us against them and against the principles or methods which have caused them. This is the element of value contained in the system. But Eclecticism errs when it substitutes for personal reflection as the primary source ofphilosophy a mere fusion of systems, or the history ofphilosophy for philosophy proper. Eclecticism does not furnish us with the ultimate principles ofphilosophy or the criterion of certitude. We cannot say that philosophy has reached the highest degree of precision either in its solution or in its presentation of every problem; nor that it knows all that can be known about nature, man, orGod. But even if this were the case, the principles of Eclecticism cannot provide us with a firm, complete, andtrue system ofphilosophy. Cousin says that there is sometruth in ever system; supposing this to be exact, this partialtruth as evidently to be acquired at first through principles and a rule of certitude which are independent of Eclecticism. When Cousin declares that there is a mingling oftruth anderror in every system, he evidently assumes a principle superior and antecedent to the very principle of Eclecticism. The eclectic must first separateerror fromtruth before building into a system the results of his discrimination. But this is possible only on the condition of passing a judgment upon each of these systems and therefore of having, quite apart from history, some rational principle as an ultimate criterion. In a word, Eclecticism, considered as a study of the opinions and theories of others in order to find in them some help and enlightenment, has its place inphilosophy; it is a part of philosophic method; but as adoctrine it is altogether inadequate.

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