ECLECTICS

ECLECTICS, so-called philosophers who attach themselves to no system, but select what, in their judgment, is true out of others. In antiquity the Eclectic philosophy is that which sought to unite into a coherent whole the doctrines of Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, such as that of Plotinus and Proclus was. There is an eclecticism in art as well as philosophy, and the term is applied to an Italian school which aimed at uniting the excellencies of individual great masters.