Transcendentalism Historical Context

Transcendentalism: A Historical Context
The Transcendental movement emerged among a small group of intellectuals

living in New England. In their lectures and writings, at meetings of the
Transcendental Club, which became active in Boston and environs in 1836, and
in periodicals such as The Dial and The Western Messenger, they advanced
what their leader, Ralph Waldo Emerson, called the “new views”: a synthesis of
imported and home-grown notions that produced the distinctive configuration of
ideas known as American Transcendentalism.
For the Transcendentalists, the term meant simply that there are truths that go
beyond, or transcend, proof. These truths are known to the heart rather than to
the mind—are felt emotionally, even though they cannot be proved logically. For
example, a doctor can tell whether someone is alive but cannot tell whether it is
good to be alive. The Transcendentalists held that most human values lie
outside the limits of reason and belong to the realm of instinct or intuition; they
are matters of private experience, faith, and conviction.
The Transcendentalists drew on a wide variety of foreign sources, including

Platonism and Neoplatonism, German philosophical idealism,
Swedenborgianism, the ideas of the French Eclectic school and the English
Romantics, and, somewhat later, Confucius’ and Buddha’s writings. There was
no unanimity among them, but most Transcendentalists subscribed to an
intuitive idealism, the concept of an organic universe, and a belief in the divinity
of the human being. They were antiformalists in religion and literature, and they
protested the commercial materialism of nineteenth century America. Although
small in number and confined primarily to New England, they represented a
significant influence in the history of American thought. Not only did they
question prevailing notions about the universe, humankind, and God; they also
challenged neoclassical artistic standards, introducing a new aesthetic theory
based on the use of symbolism.
Philosophically, American Transcendentalism represented a repudiation of the

Lockean philosophy of sensationalism and materialism that had dominated
American thought during the eighteenth century and which survived, although in
a somewhat modified form, in the Scottish commonsense philosophy of the
early nineteenth century. The Transcendentalists elevated intuition over sense
experience as a source of knowledge, and they emphasized the superiority of
the faculty of “reason” over that of “understanding.” Transcendentalist George
Ripley explained that Transcendentalists believe in a truth that transcends the
sphere of the external sense. In Emerson’s words, they “respect the intuitions
and . . . give them . . . all authority over our experience.”
American Transcendentalism was not primarily a philosophical movement.

Although the Transcendentalists argued their case against the dominant culture
in the language of philosophy and literature rather than that of theology, they
were engaged in a religious demonstration. Just as they repudiated Lockean
philosophy, they also rejected its religious equivalent—what Emerson called
“the corpse-cold Unitarianism of Brattle Street and Harvard College.” The
Transcendental movement emerged out of the Unitarian Controversy of the
1830’s—a theological debate among Boston Unitarians that focused on the
question of miracles, but ultimately extended to such issues as the divinity of
Christ, the supernatural interpretation of Christianity, and the organization of the
church.
The essence of what opponents called “the latest form of infidelity” may be seen
in Emerson’s Divinity School Address of 1838. First, Emerson, a former
Unitarian minister, attacked the Unitarian concept of miracles as an interruption
of the natural order. “The word Miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches,
gives a false impression; it is Monster. It is not one with the falling rain.” For
Emerson, as for other Transcendentalists, belief in an immanent God eliminated
the traditionalism between the natural and the supernatural. Emerson also
condemned “historical Christianity,” including Unitarianism, because it did not
preach the “infinitude of man,” and because “the soul is not preached.” Christ’s
message, that God had incarnated himself in humanity, was distorted by later
ages, Emerson declared. So was Christ’s emphasis on “the eternal revelation in
the heart.” These two beliefs—that people have divinity within, and that humans
have the capacity to apprehend spiritual truth at first hand, by intuition, not
mediated by any external authority—formed the heart of Transcendental
religion. The immanence of God and the humanity of Jesus also formed a part
of the Transcendentalists’ creed.
The social philosophy of the Transcendental movement embodied two

contrasting outlooks. Some Transcendentalists were led by their belief in the
divinity of humankind to espouse an uncompromising individualism. Repudiating
the tyranny of the majority, they preached self-culture and self-reliance.
Rejecting the demand for conformity to social norms, they argued that each
individual must be true to the moral law within. Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”
(1841) and Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” (1849) are the classic
expositions of Transcendental individualism and its political and social
implications. “Civil Disobedience” was written after Thoreau had been jailed for
refusing to pay his poll tax, which he claimed would be used to finance the
Mexican War.
Other Transcendentalists emphasized the unity of humankind and stressed

cooperation rather than individualism as the key to social improvement. Orestes
Brownson, editor of the Boston Quarterly Review, represents this side of
Transcendentalism. The communitarian experiments at Brook Farm, founded in
1841, and Amos Bronson Alcott’s Fruitlands reflected the unifying side of
Transcendentalism.
The issue between the two wings of the Transcendental movement was clearly
drawn in Emerson’s response to an invitation to join the Brook Farm community:
“It seems to me a circuitous . . . way of relieving myself of any irksome
circumstances, to put on your community the task of my emancipation which I
ought to take on myself.”
Despite their disagreements as to the proper means of reform,

Transcendentalists were united in protesting against such things as slavery,
war, and the evils of capitalism. Thus, in its social philosophy, as in its religious
and philosophical outlook, the Transcendental movement represented a
trenchant critique of the dominant ideology and culture of the antebellum United
States.
Transcendentalism has continued to influence American thought. During the

1960’s and 1970’s, many Transcendentalist ideas were reflected in antiwar
protests and the Civil Rights movement. Thoreau’s doctrine of passive
resistance greatly influenced such social reformers as Mahatma Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Transcendentalism: A Historical Context

The Transcendental movement emerged among a small group of intellectuals

The Transcendentalists drew on a wide variety of foreign sources, including

Philosophically, American Transcendentalism represented a repudiation of the

American Transcendentalism was not primarily a philosophical movement.

The social philosophy of the Transcendental movement embodied two

Other Transcendentalists emphasized the unity of humankind and stressed

Despite their disagreements as to the proper means of reform,

Transcendentalism has continued to influence American thought. During the

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