American Transcendentalism Radical Romantics Roots of Transcendentalism n

American Transcendentalism Radical Romantics

Roots of Transcendentalism n Romanticism New attitude toward nature, humanity and society that emphasizes individualism and freedom. ¨A celebration of individualism ¨ A reverence for nature ¨ The rebel (individual vs. society) ¨ A concern with the impact of new technology ¨ A fascination with death and the supernatural ¨ An impulse toward reform

Transcendentalism n. A literary movement, associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson, says the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the scientific is knowable through intuition.

Inspirations Kant Mysticism: the belief in realities or truths beyond the present reach of reason. ¨direct communication or spiritual intuition of divine truth; A transcendental union of soul or mind with the divine reality or divinity n Reaction to Locke Empiricism: sense experience is the only source of knowledge. n

Catalysts n Erosion of Puritanism n Secularization--Science/Tech n Industrialization n European Influence n Access to Spiritual Ideas

Transcendentalism n “Basic truths of the universe lie beyond the knowledge we obtain from our senses, reason, logic, or laws of science. We learn these truths through our intuition, our “Divine Intellect. ”

Concepts of Transcendentalism Natural State of Man n Divinity Within n Oversoul n Nature n Intuition n Individualism n “Carpe Diem” n Technology n

Transcendental Beliefs n. NATURAL STATE OF MAN--Moral n. Society pollutes man.

Transcendental Beliefs n The Divine Intellect—part of God in each man; intuition; innate understanding of what is right and good; direct line of communication between God and man n Divinity within Man

Transcendental Beliefs n OVERSOUL: ¨man, universe, and nature are intertwined ¨Universal soul that permeates all beings—”the force” n “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 particle of God. ”- Nature

Transcendental Beliefs n. INTUITION n Individual over Reason Intuition: highest form of knowledge: the creative insight and interpretation of one's own inner voices

Plato’s World of Forms Natural world is symbolic of the spiritual world

Transcendental Beliefs n Reverence of NATURE ¨ Nature is inherently good—symbolic ¨ “The foregoing generations beheld God and Nature face to face; we—through their eyes. Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe? ”Emerson

Transcendental Beliefs n INDIVIDUALISM: ¨True to own inner perception or intuition ¨ Divinity of each individual, but this divinity could be discovered only if the person had the independence of mind to do so” ¨Self-Reliance ¨Nonconformity If I know it is truth, then it is truth.

Transcendental Beliefs n “Carpe Diem” Death n “Transcend” n

Criticism of Technology n “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end…We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. ” (19)—Thoreau

Transcendentalism n. Basic belief: “By meditating, by communing with nature through art, man transcends his senses and finds beauty, goodness, and truth”

References http: //www. jesuitcp. org/facultypages/rmcg hee/American%20 Literature/Transcendent alism/Transcendentalism%20 notes. htm n http: //www. csustan. edu/english/reuben/pal /chap 4/4 intro. html n http: //www. vcu. edu/engweb/transcendenta lism/ideas/introduction. html n