Barbara Corley, age 16, of Marin , Ohio, for her question:

WHAT IS ECLECTICISM?

Eclecticism in philosophy and art is the formulation of systems of thought by choosing from the doctrines of others, already developed systems. Eclectic thinkers combine what they regard as the most valid doctrines, although often these doctrines do not make an integral unity.

Eclecticism manifested itself to a great extent among the Greeks, beginning about 2000 B.C. This period was marked by a decline in the spirit of intellectual inquiry that had motivated the great Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, to develop unified cosmologies in their search for truth.

Among the early Christian philosophers, Clement of Alexandria and Origen developed their systems by selecting elements of Greek metaphysics and combining them with Judeo Christian thought expresses in the Old and New Testaments.

The modern school of eclectic philosophy arose in France curing the 19th century. It tried to unite the idealism of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant and the French Rene Descartes.