American Transcendentalism

The Transcendentalists: True Reality is Spiritual

• These people believed that to find the truth about God, the universe, and one’s self, one must transcend, or go beyond, the everyday experiences of the physical world.

Idealism Transcendentalism

• Greek philosophy of idealism was at the root of Transcendentalism

• Idealists said that true reality was found in ideas, not in the imperfect physical world.

• They sought the pure reality – the “ideal” that was beneath physical appearances.

• American Transcendentalists were idealists in a more practical sense.– They believed that humanity could be perfected, and

they worked to make this idea a reality.

A Transcendental View of the World

• Everything, including people, is a reflection of the divine.

• The physical world is a doorway to the spiritual world.• People can use intuition to sense God in nature or in

their own souls.• A person is his or her own best authority.• Feeling and intuition are superior to reason and

intellect.

TWO FAMOUS AMERICAN TRANSCENTENTALISTS

• Ralph Waldo Emerson– Most influential Transcendentalist– Mentor to Thoreau

• Henry David Thoreau– Influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

– Transcendentalism Clip