Transcendentalism

1. Transcendentalism Transcend: to go beyond

2. What is transcendentalism? • Philosophy that began in the 1830’s • Mostly consisted of New Englanders • Struggled with how to define spirituality and religion • Developed as a protest to the general state of culture and society (disillusionment) • Broadened into a literary and artistic movement as well

3. Characteristics of transcendentalism Transcendentalists believed that… • God gave humankind the gift of intuition, insight, and imagination • There is inherent goodness in both man and nature • Society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual • Man is at his best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.

4. Characteristics cont. Transcendentalists believed that… • The soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains • Ultimate truth is within ourselves and within nature • Our judgment can be clouded by outside forces (materialism) • Social reform movements such as women’s rights and anti-slavery campaigns were worthy causes • Closely linked to Romanticism

5. Was a reaction to… • Rationalism • Manifest Destiny • Calvinism (i.e. Puritanism)

6. Has its roots in… • German idealism and philosophy, specifically Immanuel Kant

7. Famous Transcendentalists • Ralph Waldo Emerson – wrote essays “Nature” and “Self-Reliance” • Henry David Thoreau – wrote book “Walden” (we will read an excerpt) and essay “Civil Disobedience” • Louisa May Alcott – wrote Little Women • Nathaniel Hawthorne – wrote The Scarlet Letter (although he is widely known as an anti-transcendentalist as well) • Walt Whitman – poet • Emily Dickinson – poet • John Muir – founded the Sierra Club and devoted his life to the preservation of forests

8. Modern day • Although transcendentalism was a powerful movement in the 1830’s and 1840’s, there are still modern transcendentalists who exist. • Potential characteristics of a modern transcendentalist: -Protective of/interested in nature -Disdains materialism -Rebel/rogue -Doesn’t like societal rules or being hemmed in when it comes to education or religion -Chris McCandless, the main character in Into the Wild (our next unit), is a modern transcendentalist.

9. Transcendentalist Quote “We will work on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds. A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believed himself inspired by the Divine soul which also inspires all men.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson