Rara

Is there a technical word for the amalgamation of several philosophies?

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Good afternoon!

 

I am looking for a word that best describes someone that may be very well versed in many philosophies, and practice maybe from several, as many of you do.

 

For example, although I mainly use the label of Daoist, there are many traditional formal practices that are still different to other philosophies or religions that I also adopt from. Most major world religions I can take something from, and I do enjoy learning from them and their cultures. I also like what I've seen of hermetic, socratic and stoic philosophies, to name just a few.

 

So the closest word I found by a simple Google is "Philomath" but I'm still not convinced this covers exactly what I mean. The term seems to broad and cover most learning.

 

Anyone have any other terms in their vocabulary?

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How about syncretist? Syncretism may not cover your meaning exactly, but the amalgamation aspect clearly is there.

 

Syncretic practice and syncretic religiosity is usually shunned by really devoutly orthodox people. The prejudiced connotation is that syncretism mixes up practices and confuses meaning by dilution and blandness.

Edited by virtue
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There are two words often used for this and they describe different approaches to such mixing, syncretic, such as virtue has already mentioned, and eclectic.  There is a useful and fundamental difference between them.  Eclectic is used to refer to an informal approach to a mix and match of ideas and practices, whereas synretic is a more formal approach in which there is an actual attempt to synthesize, to unify different approaches in a fundamental unity, whereas this is not necessary in a eclectic approach, only a borrowing from different sources.

 

ZYD

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2 hours ago, Zhongyongdaoist said:

There are two words often used for this and they describe different approaches to such mixing, syncretic, such as virtue has already mentioned, and eclectic.  There is a useful and fundamental difference between them.  Eclectic is used to refer to an informal approach to a mix and match of ideas and practices, whereas synretic is a more formal approach in which there is an actual attempt to synthesize, to unify different approaches in a fundamental unity, whereas this is not necessary in a eclectic approach, only a borrowing from different sources.

 

ZYD

 

Interesting. I often use the word "eclectic" to describe my music collection, so "Syncretic" might be the word I'm looking for.

 

What I'm trying to do is to almost create an elevator pitch. I say this loosely...perhaps more of a summary.

 

I'm starting a blog for young startup businesses, as I have been self-employed since university and I have always adopted various philosophical ideas and practices. It dawned on me this morning that I want to make this quite a big feature in my "About" section" as it is important to attract the correct readers. Until now, I overlooked this and just thought I was writing tips, but I would like to also emphasise how all these schools of thought were influential to my decision making and also, how when I didn't follow them, things didn't turn out so well!

Edited by Rara
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If you are looking for a nice one word label, that sounds good and has established usage, you might want to use "pragmatic", and put it into a context like "a pragmatic approach to choice among an eclectic set of tools for success."   Or something like that.

 

I should have been in advertising  I could have been a very rich word whore, but I have too much of a sense of personal integrity for that.

 

ZYD

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5 hours ago, Zhongyongdaoist said:

If you are looking for a nice one word label, that sounds good and has established usage, you might want to use "pragmatic", and put it into a context like "a pragmatic approach to choice among an eclectic set of tools for success."   Or something like that.

 

I should have been in advertising  I could have been a very rich word whore, but I have too much of a sense of personal integrity for that.

 

ZYD

 

 

You obviously decided NOT to use your powers for evil  :)

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Tibetans use the word rimé to refer to an “unbiased” approach to Tibetan Buddhism, giving each of the traditions equal respect and validity. Of course, it’s limited to Tibetan Buddhism but they were quite isolated from everyone else when it developed in the 19th century.

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Autodidactic renaissance man with an eclectic approach to pragmatic problem solving in order to provide innovate solutions that create competitive advantages. :D

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On 6/6/2020 at 8:13 PM, Rara said:

I am looking for a word that best describes someone that may be very well versed in many philosophies, and practice maybe from several, as many of you do.

 

Hi Rara,

 

Can I suggest the word ~ ONE ...

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Keep safe and well.

 

- Anand

 

Edited by Limahong
Enhancement

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