Eclecticism

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An eclectic building: the Palacio de Cibeles (seat of the city council, former main post office) in Madrid
The New York Palace in Budapest

As eclectic (from ancient Greek ἐκλεκτός eklektós "is selected, choice") are referred to techniques and methods which have different systems (eg. B. styles disciplines philosophies) use and re-assemble the elements.

The term genre syncretism has a similar meaning . The term syncretism is used more in a religious and philosophical context.

Eclectic worldview and humanities

The term was coined in antiquity , around the birth of Christ. At that time, different schools of philosophy coexisted, and there were thinkers and politicians who were called eclectics because they combined elements of different positions. The most famous representative of this direction was Cicero . In his ethical ideas, in particular, he essentially adopted the teachings of the Stoics , but also incorporated values ​​from the academy and the Peripatos . In Christianity , the eclectic motto of Paul of Tarsus applies. Check everything and keep what is good! ( 1 Thess 5:21  EU ) as a basic principle that facilitated the missionary inculturation of the new faith in the ancient world.

In the humanities , the term eclecticism characterizes the method of forming a new unit from set pieces from different systems , theories or world views . The often derogatory use of the term reveals a preference for self-contained, isolated systems of theory over the selection of correct statements from various theories when refuted elements are not adopted. That (scientifically legitimized) eclecticism should nevertheless be practiced is represented by Richter (2011).

Eclecticism in Art and Architecture

Eclecticism is characteristic of the styles of European art since the beginning of historicism . As an art process, eclecticism is important in postmodernism for critical reflection on existing material. The term eclectic or eclectic refers to a single work of art in which various past styles are processed. With regard to the respective artistic quality, a distinction must be made between imitation and personal development. The term can be given a negative emphasis if the artist chooses elements from other works instead of his own creation and combines them into a new work.

In architecture, eclecticism is the citing of architectural style elements from several past eras on a new building. This method can be found in particular in the historicism of the 19th century, but also in the 11th century in southern Italian Romanesque , where a mixed Arab-Byzantine-Norman style emerged, or in the postmodern architecture of the 20th century.

An example of eclecticism in architecture: St. Augustine in Paris . The facade with rose window and sculpture gallery follows the Romanesque style, while the dome is based on Renaissance models

An eclectic is someone who selects what is suitable for him from what is available and tries to adapt it to his purposes.

A well-known eclectic was the painter Bernhard Delsing .

Eclecticism and Historicism

Eclecticism is also used as an epoch term , analogous to historicism . As such an epoch term, eclecticism is considered unsuitable because there were other architectural attitudes at the time. As a substitute designation and demarcation can eclecticism against Historicism be used to the then popular style pluralism better classify: The numerous neo-styles were used in the architecture (see. Romanesque Revival , Gothic Revival , Neo-Renaissance , Neo-Baroque ) not only a reference to past history, but also to establish a location reference, a characterization of the building task or a coherence of the construction.

Eclecticism can, within historicism, also mean the stylistic mix of the formal apparatus used on a building.

The term eclecticism , in connection with historicism and with a derogatory connotation, can also represent a criticism of the selective design methods used by many architects of the 19th century.

Eclecticism as a method term

As part of the architectural design , there may be a selection process from existing styles and shapes. Elements from different models can also be combined with one another. These models sometimes come from similar architectural circles (Roman temple type with Greek columns) or from completely different ones (Renaissance portico next to Egyptian columns and Moorish window frames with Gothic spire). In the selection process, temporal references (as in historicism) or spatial (as in exoticism ) can play a role.

Eclecticism as a method term can also mean the use of different shapes and styles on different buildings within the overall work of an architect, if he is concerned with doing justice to the respective, different building task.

George Gilbert Scott saw the method of eclecticism positively:

"Eclectic in itself is a good principle, that is, borrowing elements from the art of all kinds with which we can enrich and perfect the style that we have identified as our basis and core according to our plan."

Gottfried Semper, on the other hand, criticized the "art disciple" who "stuffs his herbarium full of all kinds of well-glued drawings"

"In the happy expectation that the order for a Valhalla à la Panthenon, a basilica à la Monreale, a boudoir à la Pompeii, a palace à la Pitti, a Byzantine church or even a bazaar in Turkish taste could not be long gone."

Fritz Schumacher differentiated eclecticism as a design method:

"There is a carelessly superficial and a conscientiously scientific eclecticism, there is an eclecticism of convenience and one of conviction, an eclecticism of understanding and one of feeling."

Examples

Eclecticism in Medicine

During the Roman Empire, a medical school known as the eclectic school arose in the 1st century , and its influence extended into the 4th century. It had developed from the traditions of the pneumatics school and incorporated elements of empiricists and methodologists in its healing concept . The writings of the eclectic are mentioned in Galenus , who saw himself as an eclectic and took an eclectic point of view both in his medical and in his philosophical views, Oreibasios and Aëtios by Amida . The doctor Agathinos from Sparta, who worked in Rome, was regarded by Galenus as the founder of the eclectic school. The doctor Herodotus (1st / 2nd century) and the surgeon Leonidas from Alexandria are named as his pupils. An important representative of the eclectic (also known as episynthetic ) was also the Agathinos pupil Archigenes of Apamea.

literature

  • Doris H. Lehmann, Grischka Petri (ed.): Eclecticism and eclectic processes in art. Olms, Hildesheim 2012, ISBN 978-3-487-14788-8 .
  • Petra Michel: Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712–74) and the problem of eclecticism. Mäander, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-88219-295-X .
  • Nicolas Pethes, Jens Ruchatz (ed.): Eclecticism. In: Lexicon memory and memory. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-499-55636-7 .
  • Ulrich Johannes Schneider : On philosophical eclecticism (PDF; 2.0 MB). In: A. Steffens (Ed.): After Postmodernism. Düsseldorf 1992, pp. 201-224.
  • Joseph Richter: Free Foundations. Scientific theoretical foundations for eclectic and integrative theory and practice. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89971-866-9 .
  • Siegfried Wollgast: Eclecticism. In: Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism . Volume 3, Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 1997, pp. 226-237.
  • Michael Hellenthal: Eclecticism: On the ambivalence of a mindset and an artistic concept (= work on aesthetics, didactics, literature and linguistics. Volume 17). Lang, Frankfurt 1993, ISBN 3-631-46440-1 .

Web links

Commons : Eclecticism  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Eclecticism  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

References and footnotes

  1. ^ Josef Ratzinger : Sacramentum Caritatis , No. 78.
  2. ↑ Joseph Richter: Free foundations. Scientific theoretical foundations for eclectic and integrative theory and practice. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht unipress, Göttingen 2011.
  3. ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner, Hugh Honor, John Fleming: Lexikon der Weltarchitektur. 3. Edition. Prestel, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7913-1238-3 ; Lemma eclecticism . There literally: "[...] Citing stylistic elements of the architecture of several past eras on a building."
  4. ↑ Composition after Nikolaus Pevsner, Hugh Honor, John Fleming: Lexikon der Weltarchitektur. 3. Edition. Munich, Prestel, 1992, Lemma Eclecticism . There literally "... quoting stylistic elements of the architecture of several past eras on a building."
  5. ↑ “After the Arabs, who had lived in Sicily since 917, were expelled in the 11th century, the Normans developed a mixed Arab-Byzantine-Norman style. His eclecticism has a spatial effect as far as Naples, temporally up to the Staufer period (since 1194) [...] The main works are the northern Sicilian. Dome in Palermo, Cefalù, Monreale […] Ceiling flat, open (Cefalù, Monreale) or arab. Stalactite ceiling (Palermo, Capella Palatina ) […] rich decoration: […] incrustration with lava and colored stones; Mosaics (byzantine); artesonado-like floor (arab.) “Quoted from: Wilfried Koch: Architectural style - European architecture from antiquity to the present. Orbis-Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-572-05927-5 , p. 136.
  6. ↑ Composition after Nikolaus Pevsner, Hugh Honor, John Fleming: Lexikon der Weltarchitektur. 3. Edition. Munich, Prestel, 1992, Lemma Eclecticism
  7. ^ Sentence after Günther Wasmuth (Ed.): Wasmuths Lexikon der Baukunst. Berlin, 1929–1932 (4 volumes), Lemma Eklektizismus
  8. ↑ a b paragraph after eclecticism. In: Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani (Hrsg.): Hatje-Lexikon der Architektur des 20. Century. 1998.
  9. ↑ a b cf. for example Fritz Baumgart: DuMont's small subject lexicon of architecture. Cologne 1977, Lemma Historicism . There, with reference to the Palace of Justice in Brussels (1866–1883) by Joseph Poelaert : "The stylistic mix of the formal apparatus (eclecticism) is astonishing: Baroque, Renaissance, Roman, Greek and even Assyrian are interconnected."
  10. ^ Sentence after eclecticism. In: Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani (Hrsg.): Hatje-Lexikon der Architektur des 20. Century. 1998.
  11. ↑ Paragraph and examples (literally) after eclecticism. In: Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani (Hrsg.): Hatje-Lexikon der Architektur des 20. Century. 1998.
  12. ↑ a b c quoted after eclecticism in Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani (ed.): Hatje-Lexikon der Architektur des 20. Jahrhundert. 1998.
  13. ^ Richard Reid : Buildings. A travelguide. Europe and Northern America. 3500 buildings - 1700 drawings. All eras and architectural styles. Weltbild, Augsburg 1980, p. 218.
  14. ^ Richard Reid: Buildings. A travelguide. Europe and Northern America. 3500 buildings - 1700 drawings. All eras and architectural styles. Weltbild, Augsburg 1980, p. 399.
  15. ^ Diethard Nickel : Galen of Pergamon. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , pp. 448-452; here: p. 450 f. ( Medical system ).
  16. ↑ Jutta Kollesch , Diethard Nickel : Ancient healing art. Selected texts from the medical writings of the Greeks and Romans. Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1979 (= Reclams Universal Library. Volume 771); 6th edition ibid 1989, ISBN 3-379-00411-1 , p. 11.
  17. ↑ Hans Georg von Manz: Herodotos. In: Werner E. Gerabek u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of medical history. 2005, p. 575.
  18. ^ Heinrich Haeser : History of Medicine (= textbook on the history of medicine and epidemic diseases. Volume 1). 2nd completely reworked edition. Friedrich Mauke, Jena 1853, p. 133.
  19. ^ Hans Georg von Manz: Eclectic School. In: Werner E. Gerabek et al. (Ed.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. 2005, p. 340 f.