eclecticism

noun — 4 senses

eclecticism

noun

Etymology From eclectic + -ism.

1

The quality of being eclectic.

  • In those days she had admired his pluralistic openness of mind, and struggled, in her kitchen, towards a parallel eclecticism, learning to cook the dosas and uttapams of South India as well as the soft meatballs of Kashmir.1988, Salman Rushdie, chapter V, in The Satanic Verses, page 255:
  • I am concerned that this encouraging but brief period of success will foster the opinion, already widely held, that the monetary pillar is superfluous, and lead monetary policy analysis back to the kind of muddled eclecticism that brought us the 1970s inflation.2006, Robert E. Lucas, in: Panel Discussion: Central Banking: Is Science Replacing Art?, in: European Central Bank (ed.), Monetary Policy: A Journey from Theory to Practice: An ECB Colloquium Held in Honour of Otmar Issing, March 16-17 2006, p. 168
2

Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences An approach to thought that draws upon multiple theories.

3

Art, Arts Any form of art that borrows from multiple other styles.

4

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences, Textual criticism The selection of diverse witnesses to a text.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.