The Eclectic School
Eclecticism: the doctrine that truth lies scattered among the several existing systems.
Eclecticism takes its name from the Greek ek-legein, to pick out or choose out. The Eclectics are those philosophers who professedly hold that true science is contained not in any one system but in elements scattered among many, so that the philosopher's task is to select what is sound from each. Glenn treats the name, the doctrine, the notable Eclectics of the period, and his own remarks upon the movement. He allows that Eclecticism testifies to a genuine dissatisfaction with the exhausted schools of post-Aristotelean times, but argues that as a method it is unsound: without a criterion of its own by which to judge what is to be chosen, it can only combine doctrines drawn from incompatible principles, and so cannot yield a coherent philosophy.
Article 4. The Eclectic School
a) Name: Eclecticism takes its name from the Greek word, ‘‘ek-legein” which means “to pick out.” “to choose out.’’ The Eclectics are those philosophers who professedly hold that true science is contained in no one system, but is scattered through the doctrines of all schools and philosophers. Truth is found by sifting out its elements from various and even opposed philosophical systems. Practically all the philosophy of this time was eclectic in a measure. The Eclectic ”School” is a convenient invention of the historian for the ready grouping of those philosophers of all Schools who were of pronounced or professed eclectic views. Most of those we are to name hereafter as Eclectics will be recalled as members of one or other of the Schools already discussed.
b) Doctrine: Certitude cannot be attained by reasoning upon the data of experience (speculation). Immediate and uncriticized knowledge, i. e., such knowledge as squares with everyday experience and meets the practical requirements of life, is the only truth. The tests of such truth is the direct experience of the individual and an inner voice which attests the truth or falsity of that which presents itself to thought or sense perception. The body of philosophical truth is organized by drawing into some sort of harmony and unity the various elements of truth which are sifted out by the “test” from the doctrines of all philosophers.
c) Notable Eclectics were Philo of Larissa, the Acade-mian (i century b, c.); Antiochus of Ascalon (i century b. c.); Plutarch of Chseronea (i century after Christ), the author of the famous Lives; Apuleius of Madaura in Africa (2 century after Christ); Numenius of Apamea in Syria (2 century after Christ); Celsus (2 century after Christ), against whose anti-Christian teachings Origen wrote eight books; Galen (2 century after Christ), the famous physician and philosopher of the Peripatetic School.
Cicero (1 century b. c.) was one of the greatest Eclectics. His doctrine will be discussed in the Chapter on Roman philoso-phy.
Other Eclectics—called Neo-Pythagorean because they revived in their system certain parts of the Pythagorean doctrine —flourished in the Roman Empire during the first two centuries after Christ. Among these were, Nigidius Figulus, Quintus Sextius, Apollonius of Tyana, Moderatus of Gades, Nicho-machus of Gerasa, Secundus the Athenian.
d) Remarks: Eclecticism is only a phase of Skepticism. It may be regarded also as a well-meant but futile attempt to save philosophy from the utter destruction to which absolute Skepticism doomed it. It postulates a purely gratuitous test of truth: it is illogical throughout: it is wholly unstable, and a thinking mind could not hold long by its doctrines without lapsing into utter Skepticism or adhering to some positive theory of truth and certainty as possible.
The systems of philosophy discussed in this Chapter have much in common. They are all skeptical; they are all more or less eclectic; they all propose the question of happiness and the object in which it is to be sought, and all solve the question in pretty much the same fashion. Their solution of the ethical question is, in every instance, a surrender—a surrender to the conviction that certainty is not attainable, and sometimes a surrender to the allurements of moral sensualism. The result of such a surrender was inevitably a loss of the spirit of systematic study and a weakening of scientific method. Naturally, the exact or mathematical sciences broke from philosophy in this circumstance. During the weary period of surrender, decline, and decay in Greek philosophy, the mathematicians and astronomers went busily on with their work, es pecially in the Greek colonies on the Mediterranean islands and in Egypt. In Sicily, during the 3 century b. c., Hicetas and Archimedes taught a system of astronomy far superior to that of Plato and Aristotle. About the same time Aristarchus of Samos advanced the theory that the earth moves about the sun—a doctrine branded as impious by the Stoics, and later rejected by Ptolemy (2 century after Christ). In Alexandria there developed under the influence of the Ptolemies a new phase of philosophic thought which belongs to the Greco-Oriental philosophy of which we have yet to speak. Side by side with this new philosophy grew up a science, of which Euclid (3 century b. c.) is the chief representative and exponent. Euclid wrote “The Elements o_i_ Geometry” and other treatises of a mathematical nature. Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus), who lived about the middle of the 2 century after Christ, belonged to the Alexandrian School, and his writings on astronomy were authoritative until the time of Copernicus (15 century).