American Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism• Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion,

culture, and philosophy emerged in New England in the early-to mid 1800’s.

• Influences:– Greek philosopher, Plato, who believed that ideas not “things” are the most

important element in life.– French philosopher and social reformer, Charles Fourier, who advocated a new

socialist system of cooperation.– German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, who believed that most of the mysteries

in life were beyond our understanding.– Orientalism/Mysticism which asserts the spiritual interconnectivity of all living

things.• Though the transcendental movement was relatively short, its influence

on the American culture is vast.

The First Transcendentalists

• Ralph Waldo Emerson• Henry David Thoreau

Core Belief #1. Human senses are limited; they convey

knowledge of the physical world, but deeper truths can be grasped only through intuition (gut feeling).

• “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.” (Emerson, “Self-Reliance”)

Core Belief #2. God, nature, and humanity are united

in a shared universal soul, or “Over-Soul”.

• Unlike Puritans, they saw humans and nature as possessing an innate goodness.“In the faces of men and women, I see God”

-Walt Whitman• Opposed strict ritualism and dogma of

established religion.

Journal #1: What “life lessons” can be learned through observing trees?

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over

our heads.”Journal #2: What do you think this means? Do you agree?

Core Belief #3. No political or religious institution is

as powerful or important as the individual.

• “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation in suicide…”

• “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think…”• “…to be great is to be misunderstood”

“Self-Reliance”--Emerson

Journal #3: What great men and women were (or are) misunderstood because their ideas, beliefs, or actions were unconventional?

“Our life is frittered away by detail... Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?”

“Still we live meanly like ants.”

“How deep the ruts of tradition and conformity.”Journal #4: How often have you unwittingly conformed to group

behavior or expectations?

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.”

Journal #5: What would you do if you weren’t afraid of being “different”?

Core Belief #4. The observation of nature shows the truth about human beings.

• Thoreau began “essential” living• Built a cabin on land owned to Emerson in Concord,

Mass. near Walden Pond• Lived alone there for two years studying nature and seeking truth within himself

“I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it has to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Journal #6: Write 3-4 sentences about a time when being in nature gave you a greater appreciation of life.

“Civil Disobedience”--Thoreau

• Thoreau’s essay urging passive, non-violent resistance to governmental policies to which an individual is morally opposed.

• Influenced individuals such a Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez.

“[If injustice] is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be the friction to stop the machine.”

Journal #7: What, if any, laws or policies currently in effect require that you be the agent of injustice to another?

Core Beliefs1. Human senses are limited; they convey knowledge

of the physical world, but deeper truths can be grasped only through intuition (gut feeling).

2. The observation of nature shows the truth about human beings.

3. God, nature, and humanity are united in a shared universal soul, or Over-Soul.

4. No political or religious institution is as powerful or important as the individual.

Journal #8: Which of these four core beliefs do you agree with most?