The Transcendentalists

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The Transcendentalists

• The New England Renaissance

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away
Two schools of philosophical thought battled
Transcendentalists
Anti-transcendentalists
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Come to the Dark side.
Anti-transcendentalists
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Anti-transcendentalists

• The works of writers such as Hawthorne, Melville
  and Poe acknowledged the existence of sin, pain
  and evil in human life and formed a counterpoint
  to the optimism of the transcendentalists.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
Symbolism conflict between good and evil
effects of sin on conscience
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Herman Melville
-Its the white whale I seek.
-Dark side to human
nature -Obsession
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Edgar Allan Poe

• Psychological effects of sin and guilt on the
  human psyche.
• Explored Madness.
• What is beyond the pasteboard mask of social
  respectability.

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Transcendentalists
Optimistic view of the world.
Use the Force
The natural world is a doorway to the spiritual
or ideal world.
No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
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Self Reliance
Rely on your own thought. Seek not to follow
others.
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Transcendentalists beckon us to leave behind
the hurried and technological world
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To venture forth to the natural world,
to find our inner peace, to reconnect with
all mankind and Nature.
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Use intuition to find truth and connect with the
spiritual realm.
Intuition
He believed in the Over-Soul- our individual
souls are part of a larger entity. Nature and
man are part of a universal whole
From the Lyceum Movement Education, Train
Teachers, Social Reform, Museums
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Be a keen observer of Nature Stay quiet and be
still to hear her lessons
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Aphorisms by Thoreau
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Whereas Emerson was the philosopher, Thoreau was
the practitioner.
Thoreau built the cabin for 28.12.
Walden Pond
Cabin site today
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The Dark Side vs.The Force

• Anti-transcendentalists
• Realists
• Experience
• Spirituality based on Puritanism/Calvinism
• Nature is indifferent Man is evil
• Mans dark side
• Suspicious of science and technology

• Transcendentalists
• Idealists/Individualist
• Intuition
• Everything is a reflection of the divine soul
• Nature is good even Man is good
• Man and Nature in partnership
• Embraces science as part of nature

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For when you face the danger, your inner strength
will see you through.
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May the Force be with you.