Eclecticism

Eclecticism is an approach that selects and combines elements from different sources rather than following one model exclusively. Its choices may be guided by usefulness, aesthetic judgment, or fit to a particular purpose.

Eclectic architecture: An architectural approach that combines features from different historical styles or traditions. Its buildings make eclecticism visible through deliberate mixtures of architectural vocabularies.
Syncretism: The blending of elements from different religious or cultural traditions into a new synthesis. Unlike eclectic selection, syncretism emphasizes fusion into a combined tradition.
Eclectic school: A philosophical tendency in antiquity that selected doctrines from different schools rather than accepting one system whole. Ancient philosophers provide an early, explicit model of choosing across traditions.
Orthodoxy: Adherence to accepted doctrines or established beliefs within a tradition. Orthodoxy privileges fidelity to a recognized system, unlike eclectic choice across systems.
Cultural appropriation: The adoption of elements from a culture by people or institutions outside it, often amid unequal power relations. Cross-cultural eclectic choices can reproduce unequal relations when sources are detached from their contexts.
Eclecticism in psychotherapy: A therapeutic approach that selects methods from multiple schools of psychotherapy for individual cases. Therapists combine techniques from different models rather than adhering to one school.
Bricolage: The creation of something new by recombining materials or ideas already at hand. Both approaches assemble from existing sources, but bricolage stresses the available materials.
Potamon of Alexandria: A philosopher traditionally credited with founding an eclectic school in Alexandria during the first century BCE. His school is an early historical example associated with the name eclectic.
Purism: The effort to preserve a form, language, or style from elements considered foreign or corrupting. Purism resists the cross-source borrowing that defines eclectic practice.
Cultural hybridity: The formation of identities or practices through interaction among different cultural traditions. Eclectic combinations can contribute to hybrid forms, though the concepts are not identical.

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