transcendentalism
DESCRIPTION
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. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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.