The history of the concept of eclecticism

Antiquity knew both the concept of eclectic philosophy and the term itself, but both were much less widespread than their popularity in modern times would lead one to think. The idea that a philosophy could show the combined influence of other thinkers was by no means unusual in the classical world: we need only be reminded of the way Aristotle explains Plato’s thought in the first book of Metaphysics as a creative blend of the philosophies of Parmenides, Heraclitus, Socrates, and the Pythagoreans (A6-987a29ff.). Likewise, the idea that a particular doctrine or philosophical statement could be the result of the