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Transcendentalism Where Did It Come From?

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Transcendentalism Where Did It Come From? Transcendentalism Where did it come from? • Ralph Waldo Emerson gave German philosopher Immanuel Kant credit for popularizing the term “transcendentalism.” • It began as a reform movement in the Unitarian church, seeking a more emotionally fulfilling relationship with the Divine, rather than a well -reasoned one. • It is not a religion—more accurately, it is a philosophy or form of spirituality that seeks to give people a way to see the divinity (or blessings) inherent in the everyday world around them. • It centered around Boston and Concord, MA. in the mid- 1800’s where it emerged at Harvard College as a reaction against the rationality of the Unitarians. • Ralph Waldo Emerson gave German philosopher Immanuel Kant credit for popularizing the term “transcendentalism.” Human beings can instinctively know the truth of something… • Kant (was expanding the ideas of the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau) believed that the human mind was more than simply the sum of worldly experiences; rather, the mind contains innate structures or “categories” that enable it to actively organize the outside world in a comprehensible way. • We know these categories by the human faculty called intuition . • Kant suggested that human beings could instinctively know the truth of something without conscious reasoning or rational thought. • This idea went directly against the prevailing Rationalist philosophy of the Unitarian Church, which then held sway at Harvard. Unitarianism itself was a rejection of both the Puritanical roots of American Protestantism and the Evangelical revival of the period. • The Transcendentalists were seen as radicals by the well- heeled, Establishment Unitarians. • Kant called his philosophy “Transcendental philosophy,” because one “transcends,” or goes beyond, rationality or sense perception. • Using intuition , one can see beyond physical Nature and into what he saw as a higher truth—the spiritual world. • The individualistic nature of this view of reality undercut the authority of organized religion. What are the main ideas? • True reality involves ideas rather than just the world perceived by the senses. They wanted to look past physical appearances to see permanent reality and truth. • Transcendentalists were Idealists in a broader, more practical sense. They believed in human perfectibility as an achievable goal and worked to achieve it. • Emerson first expressed his philosophy of transcendentalism in his essay Nature. The Transcendentalists told everyone… Believe in yourself…the voice inside your head is really the voice of God speaking intuitively inside you. “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson What did Transcendentalists believe? For the first time, the Vedas were available in English. These sacred texts from India, written in the Sanskrit language are as much philosophical as religious. Emerson and Thoreau read this material and it influenced their ideas about the nature and goals of life itself. The Vedas confirmed that the intuitive faculty, instead of rational or sensical ones, became the means for a conscious union of the individual psyche (known in Sanskrit as Atman ) with the world psyche also known as the Oversoul, life-force, prime mover and God (known in Sanskrit as Brahman ). Spiritual living is established by the individual • A person’s relationship to God was very important, – BUT it was established by the person himself/herself and NOT by following the dictates of any church. – There was also a strong belief in brotherhood and equality. – This helped fuel a sense of common cause among different groups and social classes which led to the progressive movements against slavery and in favor of women’s rights and the protection of the environment. Basic Premise #1 An individual is the spiritual center of the universe, and in an individual can be found the clue to nature, history and, ultimately, the cosmos itself. It is not a rejection of the existence of God, but a preference to explain an individual and the world in terms of an individual. Basic Premise #2 The structure of the universe literally duplicates the structure of the individual self—all knowledge, therefore, begins with self- knowledge. This is similar to Aristotle's dictum "know thyself.“ The inner cosmos reflects the outer cosmos . Basic Premise #3 Transcendentalists accepted the concept of nature as a living mystery, full of signs. Nature is symbolic and reveals its mysteries to those who take the time to be still and to see, feel and hear that reality. Basic Premise #4 The belief that individual virtue and happiness depend upon self- realization—this depends upon the reconciliation of two universal psychological tendencies : 1. The desire to embrace the whole world— to know and become one with the world. 2. The desire to withdraw, remain unique and separate—an individualistic existence. Who were the Transcendentalists? • Ralph Waldo Emerson • Henry David Thoreau • Amos Bronson Alcott • Margaret Fuller • Ellery Channing Ralph Waldo Emerson • 1803-1882 • Unitarian minister • Poet and essayist • Founded the Transcendental Club • Popular lecturer • Banned from Harvard for 40 years following his Divinity School address • Supporter of abolitionism Henry David Thoreau • 1817-1862 • Schoolteacher, essayist, poet • Most famous for Walden and Civil Disobedience • Influenced environmental movement • Supporter of abolitionism Amos Bronson Alcott • 1799-1888 • Teacher and writer • Founder of Temple School and Fruitlands • Introduced art, music, P.E., nature study, and field trips; banished corporal punishment • Father of novelist Louisa May Alcott Margaret Fuller • 1810-1850 • Journalist, critic, women’s rights activist • First editor of The Dial , a transcendental journal • First female journalist to work on a major newspaper—The New York Tribune • Taught at Alcott’s Temple School Ellery Channing • 1818-1901 • Poet and especially close friend of Thoreau • Published the first biography of Thoreau in 1873—Thoreau, The Poet-Naturalist Resources • American Transcendental Web: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/index.html • American Transcendentalism: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/amtrans.htm • PAL: Chapter Four http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/4intro.html.
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