TranscendentalismTranscendentalismTranscendentalismTranscendentalism Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonHenry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalism

The term “Transcendentalism” is derived from the Latin verb transcendere meaning, to rise above, or to pass beyond the limits. Transcendentalism has been defined as the recognition in man of the capacity of acquiring knowledge transcending the reach of the five senses, or of knowing truth intuitively, or of reaching the divine without the need of an intercessor.

• The sources of Transcendentalism.

• Neo-Platonism• German romanticism • A certain version of Eastern

mysticism

Major concepts

• 1). It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition.

• 2). As romantic idealism, it placed spirit first and matter second. It stressed essence behind appearance.

• 3). It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God.

• 4). It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish.

• 5). Emerson envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Over-soul”.

• 6). It held that commerce was degrading and that a life spent in business was a wasted life. Humanity could be much better off if people paid less attention to the material world in which they lived.

The transcendental club • The Dial (1840-1844)• Brook Farm (1841)

Emerson’s explanation to

transcendentalism• A little beyond• pure reason• inherited conventions• the normal but low expectations

for the self• European cultural norms

His works

• Nature (1836) • The American Scholar (1837) • Divinity School Address (1838) • Self-reliance • The Over-soul

Henry David Thoreau • Walden (1854) • “Civil Disobedience”(1849)

Meaning • Can we live more meaningfully by living

simply? What does the experiment prove? Perhaps it is a reminder that people should not forget the pleasure of living near to nature. Perhaps it is a warning that people who pursuing only material goals run the risk of missing the most rewarding experience life