An Overview of Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism, 19th-century movement of writers and philosophers in New
England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of
thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of
humanity, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation
of the deepest truths. German transcendentalism (especially as it was refracted
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle), Platonism and Neoplatonism,
the Indian and Chinese scriptures, and the writings of such mystics as Emanuel
Swedenborg and Jakob Böhme were sources to which the New England
Transcendentalists turned in their search for a liberating philosophy.
Eclectic and cosmopolitan in its sources and part of the Romantic movement, New
England Transcendentalism originated in the area around Concord, Massachusetts,
and from 1830 to 1855 represented a battle between the younger and older
generations and the emergence of a new national culture based on native materials.
It attracted such diverse and highly individualistic figures as Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody,
and James Freeman Clarke, as well as George Ripley, Bronson Alcott. In 1840
Emerson and Margaret Fuller founded The Dial (1840–44), the prototypal “little
magazine” wherein some of the best writings by minor Transcendentalists appeared.
The writings of the Transcendentalists and those of contemporaries such as Walt
Whitman, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, for whom they prepared the
ground, represent the first flowering of the American artistic genius.
Henry David Thoreau
Ralf Waldo Emerson
In their religious quest, the Transcendentalists rejected the conventions of 18thcentury thought, and what began in a dissatisfaction with Unitarianism developed
into a repudiation of the whole established order. They were leaders in experimental
schemes for living (Thoreau at Walden Pond, Alcott at Fruitlands, Ripley at Brook
Farm); women’s suffrage; better conditions for workers; temperance for all;
modifications of dress and diet; the rise of free religion; educational innovation; and
other humanitarian causes.
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Major Transcendentalist Values
The transcendentalist movement encompassed many beliefs, but these all fit into
their three main values of individualism, idealism, and the divinity of
nature.
Individualism
Perhaps the most important transcendentalist value was the importance of the
individual. They saw the individual as pure, and they believed that society and its
institutions corrupted this purity. Transcendentalists highly valued the concept of
thinking for oneself and believed people were best when they were independent and
could think for themselves. Only then could individuals come together and form ideal
communities.
Idealism
The focus on idealism comes from Romanticism, a slightly earlier movement. Instead
of valuing logic and learned knowledge as many educated people at the time
did, transcendentalists placed great importance on imagination, intuition
and creativity. They saw the values of the Age of Reason as controlling and
confining, and they wanted to bring back a more “ideal” and enjoyable way of living.
Divinity of Nature
Transcendentalists didn’t believe in organized religion, but they were
very spiritual. Instead of believing in the divinity of religious figures, they saw
nature as sacred and divine. They believed it was crucial for humans to have a close
relationship with nature, the same way religious leaders preach about the importance
of having a close relationship with God. Transcendentalists saw nature as perfect as it
was; humans shouldn’t try to change or improve it.
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