Studies of eclecticism in nineteenth-century France focus on the figure of Cousin, opposing him in a static manner to Broussais. However, there are a number of non-negligible reciprocal interactions that existed between physicians and philosophers, as shown by the development of a medical eclecticism in reference to Cousin. Indeed, in this way, Cousin himself become an unexpected event in the history of science. To demonstrate this, the following chapter concentrates on the historical and philosophical writings of Dr. Victor-Pierre Renouard (1798-1888) so as to analyze the rhetorical uses of this classificatory label in terms of its more universal history. However, this labelling and the divisions it generates occurs against a background of one shared ideal, anticipated by Bacon: experimentation must replace speculation. How this ideal is interpreted and concretely realised motivates a tension between a methodological aim (to marry rationalism and empiricism through an eclectic method that conciliates between true statements) and a theoretical aim (to establish a rational empiricism regulated by utility). In the end, the case study contributes to the understanding of the epistemic division in the nineteenth century between clinical medicine and experimental medicine.