Talk:Eclecticism

First paragraph
It seems, in the first sentence, that there is a typo:

Eclecticism is an approach to philosophy and other fields that does not hold rigidly to a single mode of thinking, but instead draws upon multiple theories to gain complementary insights of phenomena, or applies only certain theories in particular cases.

should perhaps be:

Eclecticism is an approach to philosophy and other fields that does not hold rigidly to a single mode of thinking, but instead draws upon multiple theories to gain complementary insights of phenomena, or applies only to certain theories in particular cases.

I don't claim to be a grammatical expert, but the sentence seems to be missing something at that point. Perhaps I'm miss reading the sentence. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 134.67.6.44 (talk • contribs) 12:50, October 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * I think the "to" can make a difference between what the subject of the sentence is: the eclecticism, or the theories.  I'm thinking one sentence means applying a theory to a certain principle (in which the principle is the idea that is being altered, challenged, whatever), but the other sentence meaning you apply a certain principle to a theory (in which the theory is the idea that is being altered, challenged, whatever).  I could be wrong, of course, but we all have likely experienced situations in the past where one little preposition can change an entire meaning or context of what we wish to express.  Since I don't know the intended original meaning of the article, I'm leaving it alone.  --I am not good at running 00:53, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Copied
Who copied whom?

Science Fair Project Encyclopedia —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Prell (talk • contribs) 11:15, October 28, 2004 (UTC)
 * The indicated website states that it mirrors wikipedia articles, so no problem here. --Blainster 10:02, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Article Improvement Drive
Architecture of Africa is currently nominated on Article Improvement Drive. Come to this page and support it with your vote. Help us improve this article to featured status.--Fenice 08:46, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Cleanup needed
I have just added a cleanup tag to this article. If anyone has the chance to give it some attention, such as dividing it into sections and adding more information (there is more to eclecticism than is written here), that would be great. Also, above is a note about possible copyright violation. I haven't had a chance to check out the link yet, but this is potentially another problem. Thanks, rom a rin [talk ] 15:29, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Image needs descriptive title
The image of the window is titled 'eclecticism in architecture', but does not tell how. My personal view is that it is because of multiple architecture styles used. But I am not sure, and from reading the first paragraph, it may refer to some other vague meaning, because article refers to many meanings of 'eclecticism'. Please add more descriptive title to it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Anupamsr (talk • contribs) 01:28, July 13, 2006 (UTC)
 * That picture, along with its placement and especially the amazing caption, together comprise probably the most hilarious thing I've ever seen on Wikipedia. Please don't change it! :O &mdash; flamingspinach | (talk) 13:01, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Lacuna
The entry should have a section on Eclecticism in religion, or Religious Eclecticism. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.246.204.115 (talk • contribs) 23:38, September 1, 2006 (UTC)

Better late than never, but I agree. While religious syncretism is featured heavily in the article on syncretism, I was surprised that there was not a section on religious eclecticism here. I guess the first step would be to know exactly what the differences between the two are, assumming there is a difference as per and. Emptymountains (talk) 01:20, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

Morning tea
Rather than a label asking for more info, can we just remove what is the admittedly nicely written words of a wum.RayTayMiht (talk) 07:39, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Uniformly Eclectic?
"The Hungarian capital has the biggest and most uniform eclectical city center in the World."

I'm no expert on eclecticism, nor am I a native english speaker, but can there be something that is uniformly eclectical? Rieby (talk) 00:14, 21 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Good point. You have prompted me to check the credentials cited for that photo caption, and it is highly suspect: it is a link to a website that not only offers the (Hungarian) Wikipedia as a link, but actually quotes two paragraphs from it. The "uniform eclectic" notion appears to be a mangled translation from the Hungarian Wikipedia article quoted there, the operative phrase being "városképe a világon egyedülállóan egységes", which I make out to mean "the city is a uniquely unified image of the world", which is not quite the same thing, is it? In any case, Wikipedia is not a reliable source (not even the Hungarian Wikipedia!), and that intersection appears to be perfectly uniform architecturally, and not at all eclectic. I suggest it be removed, together with the offending caption and its unreliable source, since all it can possibly do is confuse the reader. Perhaps its addition was a prank?—Jerome Kohl (talk) 04:17, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Literally
"The term comes from the Greek ἐκλεκτικός (eklektikos), literally "choosing the best",[1][2]"

The Greek word does not literally mean "choosing the best", nor is it stated anywhere in the references ("[1][2]") provided.

The word is an adjective from the verb meaning 'to select, pick out, elect' (or the corresponding noun), so it means 'related to selecting' or 'selecting, picking out, selective, choosing' (all adjectives) = 'that selects, picks out'.

Fun fact: the English word 'elect' comes from Latin electus (e-leg-tus) < eligere < e(x) + legere, this 'ex' (out of) is cognate with the Greek 'ek' and 'legere' (pick, choose, select, read) is cognate with the Greek 'lego'. In Modern Greek 'I e-lec-t' is said 'ek-leg-o'.

ll — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.149.61.218 (talk) 18:22, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

Duplicate of Revivalism term
It's the same thing that Revivalism (architecture). I think, that in some (socialist) countries word "Eclectism" is used instead of "Revivalism" or "Historicism" (second clone of Revivalism). Why Wikipedia need clone of term? --Investigatio (talk) 13:23, 21 October 2016 (UTC)


 * I am not an expert in architecture, but it appears to me that Revivalism (architecture) is more of a list, whereas Eclecticism in architecture is more of an expository article. Any discussion about merging these two articles would be better suited to Talk:Revivalism (architecture) or Talk:Eclecticism in architecture; this talk page is about Eclecticism, which is a more general article that is not limited to architecture, as you can see by reviewing the article's headings. Biogeographist (talk) 14:25, 21 October 2016 (UTC)

Eclecticism and syncretism are not equivalent
Syncretism is a union (or blend) of two or more things, while eclecticism is a selective intersection (or mix) of specific aspects of two or more things.

A syncretic religion blends two or more religions together typically without any significant exclusion.

An eclectic religion carefully selects complementary aspects from two or more religions that typically fit well together, or are complementary.

Thus the paragraph claiming equivalency needs revising. Thoric (talk) 20:45, 15 February 2024 (UTC)