American Transcendentalism

Question 1

The two major authors

Answer 1

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau

Question 2

Five Common Transcendental Beliefs

Answer 2

1. We can understand truth through INTUITION
2. CORRESPONDENCE between the human mind and the external world
3. INDIVIDUALISM
4. NATURE is where we find ourselves and can be ourselves
5. REFORM

Question 3

1. We can understand truth through INTUITION

Answer 3

• don’t believe that knowledge comes from sense-experience

* don’t believe that the human mind was a blank slate at birth

Question 4

2. CORRESPONDENCE between the human mind and the external world

Answer 4

• believed that everything was connected

* nature mirrors our psyche

Question 5

3. INDIVIDUALISM

Answer 5

• conformity to society is why people are unhappy and dissatisfied
• find your own path

Question 6

4. NATURE is where we find ourselves and can be ourselves

Answer 6

• nature gives access to God

* all of nature is symbolic

Question 7

5. REFORM

Answer 7

• we have to conform ourselves

* strongly against slavery and the treatment of women

Question 8

Transcendentalism

Answer 8

Basic truths of the universe lie beyond the knowledge we obtain from our senses