Enlightened Eclecticism. The Case of Denis Diderot

Abstract

In this consideration, I will discuss both the place of eclecticism in the philosophical tradition and its special case, which is the enlightened eclecticism of Denis Diderot. Experts in philosophical traditions indicate that eclecticism appeared at the beginning of ancient philosophy and later was associated with a departure from the dogmatism of the old Platonic Academy and a shift to the skepticism of the new Academies. These traditions have been continued in modern times by Erasmus of Rotterdam and Michel de Montaigne and in the Age of Enlightenment, e.g., by Diderot. His declared and practiced eclecticism,
however, was connected not only with skepticism but also with specific rationalism and naturalism. I am inclined to argue both with the view that it was a component of the skepticism of the time (in my opinion, skepticism was a component of that eclecticism) and with the view that its place can be determined by opposition to Cartesian dualism on the one hand, and naturalistic monism on the other.