A splinter faction of the Culture in Iain Banks' novel Excession. A quick study of the write-ups for the two component words, Zetetic and Elench, suggests that the name reflects a commitment to finding the answer by inquiry. In Excession, Elencher ships and their crews (note that Culture ships are sentient and autonomous; if a ship wants to go somewhere and its crew doesn't, a ship will typically offload its crew safely, but not necessarily choose not to go there) are reputed to be very much into the ``to boldly go where no one has gone before'' approach to space exploration, and susceptible to becoming the things they study. This process of learning by becoming is essential to the nature of the Elenchers.