2. Belief in a higher kind of knowledge than can be achieved by human reason TRANSCENDENTALISM

3. TRANSCENDENTALISM Can you pronounce it? Can you spell it?

4. TRANSCENDENTALISM n In philosophy and literature, belief in a higher reality than that found in sense experience or n belief in a higher kind of knowledge than that achieved by human reason

5. TRANSCENDENTALISM n God gave humankind the gift of intuition, n the gift of insight, n the gift of inspiration. Why waste such a gift?

6. TRANSCENDENTALISM n Began in Germany –Immanuel Kant, philosopher –1700’s n Developed in United States in 1936 –Transcendental Club –Boston –1936 –led by Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. RALPH WALDO EMERSON n author n essayist n lecturer n philosopher n Unitarian minister

8. TRANSCENDENTALISM Emerson and the Transcendentalists led the search for truth –in nature –through self-reliance “No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.” Emerson

9. ROOTS OF TRANSCENDENTALISM n Puritanism –belief in God as a powerful force –belief that each individual can experience God first-hand

10. Roots of Transcendentalism n Romanticism – placed central importance on emotions and the individual –emphasized intuition and inner perception of truth that differs from reason –emphasized nature’s beauty, strangeness, and mystery –emphasized individual expression and artistic freedom

11. TRANSCENDENTAL BELIEFS n OVERSOUL: –man, universe, and nature are intertwined

12. TRANSCENDENTAL BELIEFS n RELATIONSHIP: –all has its place

13. TRANSCENDENTAL BELIEFS n OPTIMISTIC: –all is good evil is an illusion

14. TRANSCENDENTAL BELIEFS n INDIVIDUALISM: –be true to one’s own inner perception or intuition If I know it is truth, then it is truth.

15. TRANSCENDENTAL BELIEFS n UNLIMITED POTENTIAL OF EACH INDIVIDUAL –set high goals to improve

16. TRANSCENDENTAL BELIEFS n NATURE IS TRUTH –it can be a guide to higher understanding Nature symbolizes God or the inner life of human beings

17. HENRY DAVID THOREAU n Lived the philosophy of Transcendentalism that Emerson espoused n Spent 26 months at Walden Pond to “live deliberately - to front only the essential facts of life...”

18. TRANSCENDENTALISM n Transcendentalism began with a few and grew. n This philosophy lasted for several years in New England n It ended as the Civil War began.

19. TRANSCENDENTALISM n Now study the primary resources from the Library of Congress that have been collected from among Walt Whitman’s possessions and prove that he was a transcendentalist. THE END