Transcendentalism
American
transcendentalism
was an important
movement in
philosophy and
literature that
flourished during the
early to middle years
of the nineteenth
century (about 18361850).
It is easier to note its
pervasive influence,
though, than it is to
clarify its doctrines.
It began as a reform movement in
the Unitarian church.
It was based on "a
monism holding to the
unity of the world and
God, and the immanence
of God in the world" For
the transcendentalists, the
soul of each individual is
identical with the soul of
the world and contains
what the world contains.
One basic
premise is that 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.
The basic assumption of
transcendentalism is that
the intuitive faculty, instead
of the rational or sensical,
became the means for a
conscious union of the
individual psyche with the
world psyche also known
as the Oversoul, life-force,
prime mover and God.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The structure of the
universe literally
duplicates the
structure of the
individual self - all
knowledge, therefore,
begins with selfknowledge. This is
similar to Aristotle's
dictum "know thyself."
Aristotle
Plato
Transcendentalists
accepted the neoPlatonic conception of
nature as a living
mystery, full of signs nature is symbolic.
Another way to look at
transcendentalism is to
see it as a struggle to
define spirituality and
religion in a way that
took into account the
new understandings the
modern age (1830 –
1850) made available.
The
Enlightenment
(18th century)
had come to new
rational
conclusions
about the natural
world, mostly
based on
experimentation
and logical
thinking.
The pendulum was
swinging, and a more
Romantic way of thinking - less rational, more
intuitive, more in touch
with the senses -- was
coming into vogue. Those
new rational conclusions
had raised important
questions, but were no
longer enough.
Transcendentalism
as a movement is
rooted in the
American past: To
Puritanism it owed
its pervasive
morality and the
"doctrine of divine
light." It is also
similar to the
Quaker "inner
light."
Quaker tapestry panel
However, both of these
concepts assume acts
of God, whereas
intuition is an act of an
individual. In
Unitarianism, deity was
reduced to a kind of
immanent principle in
every person - an
individual was the true
source of moral light.
To Romanticism it owed the concept of
nature as a living mystery and not a
clockwork universe (deism) which is
fixed and permanent.
On an American visit,
Charles Dickens was
told that "whatever
was unintelligible
would certainly be
transcendental“.
Edgar Allan Poe
instructs a young author
to write the Tome
Transcendental by using
small words but turning
them upside down.
A Baltimore clergyman
noted that "a new
philosophy has risen,
maintaining that nothing
is everything in general,
and everything is
nothing in particular."
The belief that
individual virtue and
happiness is
dependent upon selfrealization depends
upon the reconciliation
of two universal
psychological
tendencies:
Bust of Emerson
a. the expansive or
self-transcending
tendency - a desire to
embrace the whole
world - to know and
become one with the
world.
b. the contracting or
self-asserting tendency
- the desire to
withdraw, remain
unique and separate an egotistical
existence.
The Transcendental
emphasis on the
oneness of individual
souls with nature and
with God gave dignity
and importance to
human activity and
made possible a belief
in the power to effect
social change in
harmony with God's
purposes.
To sum all of this up
Characteristics of
Transcendentalism –
Reality is derived through
intuition rather than sensory
experience
Individualism and nonconformity are promoted
All living things are
connected by a
universal soul, or Oversoul
Civil disobedience
when society (the
government) is wrong
Focus on spiritual relationships between
humanity and nature
Belief in a simple life style
Optimism
Appreciation and respect for nature
Emerson was the central
and most influential figure
among the group of radical
thinkers and writers of the
1830s-1850s known as the
New England
Transcendentalists.
A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
His Nature, issued
anonymously in 1836
was a systematic
exposition of
Transcendental
philosophy.
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Nature (1836)
"Standing on the bare
ground,--my head bathed
by the blithe air, and
uplifted into infinite space,-all mean egotism
vanishes. I become a
transparent eye-ball. I am
nothing. I see all. The
currents of the Universal
Being circulate through
me; I am part or parcel of
God"
A subtle chain of countless rings
The next unto the farthest brings;
The eye reads omens where it goes,
And speaks all languages the rose;
And, striving to be man, the worm
Mounts through all the spires of form.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, 1836
The movement began
with the occasional
meetings of a group of
friends in Boston and
Concord to discuss
philosophy, literature,
and religion.
They were dubbed the
Transcendental Club
by outsiders because
of their discussion of
Immanuel Kant's
transcendental ideas.
Immanuel Kant
CONCORD,
MASSACHUSETTS
Crucible of American
political and
intellectual history,
the town of Concord,
Massachusetts was
not only the cradle
of American
independence, but
also the spiritual and
actual home of the
American
Transcendentalists.
The Old North Bridge over the Concord River as it
flows past the Old Manse.
The ideas of
transcendentalism
were eloquently
expressed by
Henry David
Thoreau in his
book Walden
(1854).
The site of Thoreau’s cabin at
Walden Pond
Thoreau is considered
one of the most
influential figures in
American thought and
literature. A supreme
individualist, he
championed the
human spirit against
materialism and social
conformity.
`
He believed a person’s
conscience was the
best test of what was
right, which led to his
belief in civil
disobedience.
Besides Emerson and
Thoreau, its most
famous members, the
club included F. H.
Hedge, George Ripley,
Bronson Alcott,
Margaret Fuller,
Theodore Parker, and
others.
Margaret Fuller