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Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism. Why it happened. 1. In REBELLION against the rigid way of life of Puritanism. Why it happened. 2. Change in LIFESTYLE: development of science and industry- introduction of machine to New England farm . Why it happened.

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Transcendentalism

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  1. Transcendentalism

  2. Why it happened.... 1. In REBELLION against the rigid way of life of Puritanism

  3. Why it happened... 2. Change in LIFESTYLE: development of science and industry- introduction of machine to New England farm 

  4. Why it happened... 3.  A REJECTION of Realism and Rationalism (the idea that all knowledge comes from scientific fact and reason, not from feelings and emotions).   Chemistry Teacher: Quite an unusual class you had today...     Keating: ...funny, I never pegged you as a cynic.  Chemistry Teacher: I'm not a cynic. A realist. 

  5. Why it happened.... 4. The INFLUENCE of the American Revolutionary War         1775-1783

  6. Why it happened... 5. INFLUENCE of other cultures and religions: • Hinduism and Buddhism  • European ideas/Romantic Movement:  • John Locke- when we are born our minds are a blank slate (a "tabula rasa") and we fill them with knowledge from ourselves, not from facts from science •  Jean-Jacques Rousseau- men are born good, but man-made institutions make them wicked

  7. Where it happened... 1840-1855 Began in New England around Concord, Massachusetts.  Ralph Waldo Emerson thought the Unitarian Church's doctrine and laws were becoming too conservative 

  8. Major Beliefs... • the importance of the individual  • Emotion • Imagination • Intuition= "gut feeling" • Still a belief in God, the afterlife, etc. However, the emphasis should be on the here and now, not the past or the future • NOT a rejection of God, but a preference to explain the world in terms of the individual   • DENIAL of Original Sin 

  9. Major Beliefs... • The human soul is part of The Oversoul (God/universal spirit) to which it and other souls return at death • Therefore, every individual is to be respected because everyone has a portion of that Oversoul (God) within them • we have to try to strike a balance between being connected to others while still remaining unique and separate.   • there is a relationship between all things

  10. Major Beliefs • we must be self-reliant  • All knowledge begins with self-knowledge • we are evolving thinkers- it is okay to change our minds  • love of nature

  11. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." -Henry David Thoreau

  12. What it is... Transcendentalism is... • A Literary Movement (books and essays) • A Philosophy • A state of mind • a form of spirituality

  13. What it is.... Transcendentalism: 'Transcend'= to rise above, go beyond the limits of trans= across (transfer, transport)  scend= climb (descend, ascend)     Transcendentalists wanted to 'rise above' logical reason to find truth 

  14. What it is... Transcendentalism- A philosophy of individualism, aimed at the creation of the new American, the self-reliant man, complete and independent.

  15. What does “transcendentalism” mean? • There is an ideal spiritual state which “transcends” the physical and empirical. • A loose collection of eclectic ideas about literature, philosophy, religion, social reform, and the general state of American culture. • Transcendentalism had different meanings for each person involved in the movement.

  16. 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. • It is not a religion—more accurately, it is a philosophy or form of spirituality. • It centered around Boston and Concord, MA. in the mid-1800’s. • Emerson first expressed his philosophy of transcendentalism in his essay Nature.

  17. What did Transcendentalists believe? The intuitive faculty, instead of the rational or sensical, 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 G-d (known in Sanskrit as Brahma).

  18. 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 G-d, but a preference to explain an individual and the world in terms of an individual.

  19. 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."

  20. Basic Premise #3 Transcendentalists accepted the concept of nature as a living mystery, full of signs; nature is symbolic.

  21. Basic Premise #4 The belief that individual virtue and happiness depend upon self-realization—this depends upon the reconciliation of two universal psychological tendencies: • The desire to embrace the whole world—to know and become one with the world. • The desire to withdraw, remain unique and separate—an egotistical existence.

  22. Who were the Transcendentalists? • Ralph Waldo Emerson • Henry David Thoreau • Amos Bronson Alcott • Margaret Fuller • Ellery Channing

  23. 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

  24. Henry David Thoreau • 1817-1862 • Schoolteacher, essayist, poet • Most famous for Walden and Civil Disobedience • Influenced environmental movement • Supporter of abolitionism

  25. 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

  26. 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

  27. Ellery Channing • 1818-1901 • Poet and especially close friend of Thoreau • Published the first biography of Thoreau in 1873—Thoreau, The Poet-Naturalist

  28. 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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