Transcendentalism Optimists Pessimists Thoreau Emerson Hawthorne Melville

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) “Self-Reliance”

What does Emerson mean by “imitation is suicide”? If we imitate we in a sense kill ourselves – we aren’t being true to ourselves, so our self ceases to exist for all practical purposes

Are we equally impressed by all people and ideas Are we equally impressed by all people and ideas? (See “Not for nothing…”) NO – the divine providence, a higher power, has put certain things before each of us, and it is up to us to keep an open mind so as to appreciate these and pursue that which DOES impress us.

Accept it! What should we do with the place that “divine providence has found for” us? Accept it — along with the society of our contemporaries and the connection of events. We have to accept the place God has given us in the world, make the most of the people who live at the same time we do, and see that everything happens for a reason.

Make the Most of Life Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.

In saying “trust thyself,” what does Emerson essentially mean? Don’t keep listening to others’ wishes – pursue your own passions, trust that you know yourself better than anyone else does,

What is the “virtue in most request”? Conformity What does Emerson think of this? He hates it. Why? Conformity is the opposite of creativity; it is imitation (suicide)

Be True to Yourself The virtue in most request is conformity. Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. … What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.

Emerson advises us that we must not be “hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness.” How is this similar to Franklin’s philosophy about why certain actions should be “forbidden” or not?

We cannot just accept that something is good because others have been calling it good for a long time. We have to explore it and decide from experience, empirically, whether it’s good or bad. Franklin said that we had to label something as “forbidden” only if it hurt humanity.

Emerson goes a step farther Something is wrong only if it goes against YOUR nature, is bad for YOU.

Follow Your Own Nature No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; The only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it.

What does Emerson think of deliberate consistency? It is the hobgoblin of little minds; it scares us from self-trust. How may it keep us from improving? We will not change for fear of being labeled “inconsistent.”

What point is Emerson illustrating when he alludes to Jesus, Luther, Copernicus, Galileo and Newton? Society always persecutes those who are different, ahead of their times, who listen to their own inner voice of God and not to the herd.

“The American Scholar” An Oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge (Harvard College), August 31, 1837 Called America’s “Intellectual Declaration of Independence”

“The American Scholar” Composed before “Self-Reliance,” but APPLIES many of Emerson’s ideas in “Self Reliance” to the occupation of being a student.

Scholar is delegated as the intellect of society In “the right state”: Man Thinking The scholar tended to become (in a degenerate state): A mere thinker, or worse, the parrot of other men’s thinking.

What do we accomplish by studying nature ? Knowing ourselves — the law of nature is also the law of the human mind.

What is the “next great influence” on the scholar? Books, because they are the best influence of the past

What must “each age” do? Create its own books, literature, etc.

The “grave mischief” of books Because writing is a great act, we think of the product as great, too, and start worshipping it.

The real purpose of books To inspire

The BEST Books We look at them and think, “This is just what I have always felt.” They are timeless.

The problems in the notion that the scholar must be a recluse The scholar needs to ACT — ”Only so much do I know as I have lived.” “Drudgery, exasperation, calamity, want, are instructors in eloquence and wisdom.” Action — life— is the raw material from which the individual creates.

The scholar’s duty To be “free and brave” The scholar must follow the dictates of his own nature and be a non-conformist. Free from outside constraints and brave enough to withstand society’s disapproval

Fear springs from… IGNORANCE

The things on which American scholars should concentrate: The common American person, the everyday incident — “domestication of the idea of culture” The private life of the single person. Not in book

What about Europe?! We should stop clinging to it and start listening to ourselves. Not in book