19th Century intellectual movement began in New England.

1. Transcendentalism
Vaidehi Hariyani
(Research Scholar)
Department of English, MKBU

2. Transcendentalism
• Transcend = to go above, beyond
• To go above and beyond the limitation of the senses and everyday
experiences.
• We can go beyond by depending on our intuition rather than on
reason and logic.
• The key word for transcendentalism is simplicity.

3. Transcendentalism – A Movement
• Transcendentalism is a 19th-century movement of writers and philosophers
in New England
• who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of
thought
• based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of
man,
• and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of
the deepest truths.
• It began as a protest against the general state of culture and society at the
time, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard and the
doctrine of the Unitarian church which was taught at Harvard Divinity
School.

4. • It is an American version of English romanticism. It was influenced
by German transcendentalism, Platonism and Neo-Platonism,
Christian mysticism and English Romanticism. The
transcendentalists stressed on the following factors:
• The transcendentalists believed that human beings find truth within
themselves, and so they emphasized self-reliance and individual
conscience.
• They believed that society is a necessary evil. They argued that to
learn what is right, a person must ignore custom and social codes
and rely on reason.
• The transcendentalists believed that the doctrines and organized
churches of orthodox Christianity interfered with the personal
relationship between a person and God. The transcendentalists said
that individuals should reject the authority of Christianity and gain
knowledge of God through reason.

5. • Ralph Waldo Emerson was the leading American
transcendentalist.
• The American transcendentalists never became
numerous, but their writings greatly influenced American
intellectual history and literature.
• Besides Emerson, the leading American
transcendentalists included Bronson Alcott, Margaret
Fuller, Theodore Parker, and Henry David Thoreau.

6. What Is Transcendentalism?
• It’s all about spirituality.
• Transcendentalism is a philosophy that began in the mid-19th
century and whose founding members included Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
• It centers around the belief that spirituality cannot be achieved
through reason and rationalism, but instead through self-reflection
and intuition.
• In other words, transcendentalists believe spirituality isn’t
something you can explain; it’s something you feel.
• A transcendentalist would argue that going for a walk in a beautiful
place would be a much more spiritual experience than reading a
religious text.

7. • The transcendentalism movement arose as a result of a reaction to
Unitarianism as well as the Age of Reason. Both centered on reason
as the main source of knowledge, but transcendentalists rejected
that notion. Some of the transcendentalist beliefs are:
• Humans are inherently good.
• Society and its institutions such as organized religion and politics
are corrupting. Instead of being part of them, humans should strive
to be independent and self-reliant.
• Spirituality should come from the self, not organized religion.
• Insight and experience are more important than logic.
• Nature is beautiful, should be deeply appreciated, and shouldn’t be
altered by humans.

8. Major Transcendentalist Values
• Individualism
• Idealism
• Divinity of Nature

9. • Individualism
• Perhaps the most important transcendentalist value was
the importance of the individual.
• They saw the individual as pure, and they believed that
society and its institutions corrupted this purity.
• Transcendentalists highly valued the concept of thinking
for oneself and believed people were best when they were
independent and could think for themselves.
• Only then could individuals come together and form
ideal communities

10. • Idealism
• The focus on idealism comes from Romanticism, a slightly
earlier movement.
• Instead of valuing logic and learned knowledge as many
educated people at the time did, transcendentalists
placed great importance on imagination, intuition and
creativity.
• They saw the values of the Age of Reason as controlling
and confining, and they wanted to bring back a more
“ideal” and enjoyable way of living.

11. • Divinity of Nature
• Transcendentalists didn’t believe in organized religion,
but they were very spiritual.
• Instead of believing in the divinity of religious figures,
they saw nature as sacred and divine.
• They believed it was crucial for humans to have a close
relationship with nature, the same way religious leaders
preach about the importance of having a close
relationship with God.
• Transcendentalists saw nature as perfect as it was;
humans shouldn’t try to change or improve it.

12. Henry David Thoreau
Ralph Waldo Emerson

13. Thinking Task
• 1.) Transcendentalists talks about Individual’s relation with Nature.
What is Nature for you? Share your views.
• 2.) Transcendentalism is an American Philosophy that influenced
American Literature at length. Can you find any Indian/Regional literature
or Philosophy came up with such similar thought?