Friday, September 1, 2017
Transcendentalism
The Market Revolution of the early 1800s led to the development of several philosophies. One notable school of thought that developed during this period was transcendentalism. The central concept of transcendentalism is that people possess a knowledge about themselves and their environments that is beyond the reach of the five senses, and people can consult themselves on what is right. In other words, humans possess knowledge that “transcend” their senses. Instead of coming from rational logic, this transcendental knowledge is derived from intuition and imagination. Transcendentalism is not considered a religion; rather, it is a way of understanding life relationships.
Transcendentalism first arose among liberal Unitarians who deviated from orthodox Calvinism; they were driven by a fundamental belief in the efficacy of human striving. Unitarians aimed to bridge Enlightenment ideas such as Locke’s empiricism with Christian ideals, and this became the point at which transcendentalists began to disagree with the Unitarians. Transcendentalists thought that no proof of religion was satisfactory and, inspired by English and German philosophes, broke away from the Unitarians. To an extent, transcendentalism was also strengthened through the Market Revolution. The increasing desire for capital and material goods led transcendentalists to believe more strongly in the acquisition of items beyond tangible objects.
Some notable transcendentalists include George Ripley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau. George Ripley hosted the Boston Transcendentalist Club, which was led by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson, recognized as the first truly “American” thinker, was a Harvard-educated essayist and lecturer who encouraged people to be themselves instead of looking to Europe for inspiration. Through his writings, scholars were inspired to look into themselves, into nature, and into art for answers to complex life questions, and a uniquely American idealism and spirit of reform was developed.
Perhaps the most influential and interesting member of the Transcendental Club was Henry David Thoreau, who attempted to put transcendentalism into practice. After trying to live self-sufficiently in a hut, Thoreau preached that people were wasting too much time chasing after material wealth and following social conventions. Instead, they should appreciate the simplicity and beauty of nature, have faith in humanity, and aspire to things beyond material acquisition.
The transcendentalists left an indelible imprint on American government. In addition to celebrating the American experiment of self-reliance and individualism, they championed progressive positions with respect to women’s rights, abolition, reform, and education while criticizing established institutions such as governments, churches, and other social institutions. The transcendentalists introduced an empowering state of mind in which humans could push beyond their limits and accomplish great feats.
The development of transcendentalism leads to some questions for further exploration and reflection. First, to what extent do economic trends and policies influence the development and evolution of various religious and philosophical sects? Second, how much of liberty is rooted in material prosperity and material power, and how much is rooted in more transcendental matters?
http://www.ushistory.org/us/26f.asp
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/
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Thank you for the elaboration on transcendentalists! I do think it's rather weird that part of their ideology is that humans should follow their intuition, but then its advocates (like Thoreau) went around preaching to try to convince people. If they truly believed in their principles, shouldn't they just have left people to think and feel as they please?
ReplyDeleteAlthough, even Thoreau admitted transcendentalism is hard to understand in his journal entry from March 5, 1853: "Now that I think of it, I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations."
This post was really well-written and educational (it cleared up the definition for me). I would like to add that transcendentalism, although very progressive towards our modern beliefs and values, did have some immediate weaknesses. When people began trusting their own opinions rather than conforming to what society and leadership would say, it became more excusable for an individual to go too far with his own options, thus never conforming at all! This erratic behavior most likely lead to more crime and law-breaking if an individual felt a law ought not to be obeyed. It also furthered a divide between secularism and religion. While the transcendentalists believed in free opinions, churches believed in following strict order under Gd's will. Finally, there was much more political disruption, ultimately leading to the Civil War a few decades later. The new way of thinking involved everyone's freedom, including slaves and Indians. The old way was more hierarchical.
ReplyDeletePlease note that I am personally in favor of the individualistic and empowering approach that transcendentalism teaches, as it helped progress the abolition of slaver, gender equity, and it still serves as a motivation for change under unjust laws. For example, South Africans quoted some of Henry David Thoreau's teachings while protesting apartheid, and Americans used the ideals during the Civil Rights Movement.