Lecture Two: Transcendentalism: Emerson and Thoreau
Ralph Waldo Emerson published Nature in 1836 which represented a new way of intellectual thinking in America. “New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance” was the first American intellectual movement, which exerted a tremendous impact on the consciousness of the American people.
New England Transcendentalism was, in essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil. It was a system of thought that originated from three sources: 1. Unitarianism. 2. Idealistic philosophy from France and Germany. 3. Oriental mysticism of Hindu and Chinese classics.
一神论派，Unitarianism ，（或称一位论派、神体一位论、唯一神论、独神论、一位论、独神主义），是否认三位一体
和基督
的神圣的基督教
派别。此派别强调上帝只有一位，并不如传统基督教相信上帝由三个位格
（即圣父
、圣子
和圣灵
）组成。由于“三位一体”这词并没有在《圣经
》上出现，三位一体论只是通过根据经文的上下文及前后联系推理，到公元四世纪后的大公
会议才确立，是故受到一位论派所质疑。早在尼西亚会议
中，主张上帝只是一位和耶稣
不具有完全的神性的论调（由阿里乌派
提出）就曾被教会
定为异端
。 直到宗教改革时期，有改革家强调《圣经》为信仰的唯一根据，再次提倡“一位论”。但随即遭到天主教反对，而新教的主要改革家马丁·路德、加尔文和慈运理等都加以反对。当时，任何人如果支持“一位论”都会被迫害，有支持者曾因此而被捕、遭囚禁和处死。16－17世纪，有组织的一神论派运动出现于匈牙利和虞德海波兰，之后传到英国、美国和其他地方。其中支持“一位论”的著名神学家有西班牙的塞尔维特、波兰的索西尼、英国的比德勒和林西、法国的普利斯特里等人。
The major concepts of Transcendentalism:
1. It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition.南京海关
奇猴
2. As romantic idealism, it placed spirit first and matter second.
3. It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God.
4. It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual
was the most important element in society.
5. Emerson envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.
6. It held that commerce was degrading and that a life spent in business was a waste of life.
The significance of Transcendentalism:
吴又可
Transcendentalism can be best understood as a somewhat late and localized manifestation of romantic movement in literature and philosophy. Transcendentalism was also an ethical guide for a young nation of America.
Emerson (1803-1882)
Emerson is acclaimed as one of the major writers of the mid-19th century, One of the most stimulating American minds, and Transcendentalism’s most seminal force.
Nature, published in 1836, is taken as the Bible of Transcendentalism. “Each mind lives in the Grand mind”, “There is one mind common to all individual men”, “Nature is the symbol of spirit.”
质量管理信息系统“The American Scholar” is taken as American’s Declaration of intellectual independence. “Americans should write about here and now instead of imitating and importing from other lands.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
There are 3 great 19th American authors who have no contemporary readers, and yet become great in 20th century. Thoreau, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson.
Thoreau’s major work: “Civil Disobedience” (1849), “A Plea for John Brown”.
Walden: Walden is deceptively casual and reads like a diary of a nature lover. It contains essays of a semi-philosophical character, expanding the spiritual life by simplifying material needs.
Thoreau was a prose stylist, a lover of nature, a New England mystic, a social Philosopher, a particular kind of romantic, and a thorough transcendentalist. Through his writing, Thoreau indicated that the pursuit material things had no value. He commended a life of contemplation, of being in harmony with nature, and of acting on one’s own.
His first major influence is nonviolent struggle as expressed in his “Civil Disobedience”. Gandhi (1869-1948), and Martin Luther King (1929- 1948) and others followed his principle successfully in their struggle for independence and human right.
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