Transcendentalism   

Transcendentalism   

Why it happened....

1. In REBELLION of 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...

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. 

Why it happened....

4. The INFLUENCE of the American Revolutionary War         1775-1783

Why it happened...5. INFLUENCE of other cultures and religions: 

• Hinduism and Buddhism 

• European ideas/Romantic Movement: o 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

o  Jean-Jacques Rousseau- men are born good, but man-made institutions make them wicked

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 

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 futureo NOT a rejection of God, but a preference to

explain the world in terms of the individual  o DENIAL of Original Sin 

Major Beliefs...

• The human soul is part of The Oversoul (God/universal spirit) to which it and other souls return at deathoTherefore, every individual is to be

respected because everyone has a portion of that Oversoul (God) within them

owe have to try to strike a balance between being connected to others while still remaining unique and separate.  

o there is a relationship between all things

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  

"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

What it is...

Transcendentalism is...

• A Literary Movement (books and essays)• A Philosophy• A state of mind• a form of spirituality

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 

What it is...

Transcendentalism- A philosophy of individualism, aimed at the creation of the

new American, the self-reliant man, complete and

independent.