Transcendentalism
Walden Pond ideology
Transcendentalism was a nineteenth-century American intellectual movement centered in New England, led by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
It emphasized individual intuition, the inherent goodness of people and nature, and self-reliance over social conformity and organized religion.
Walden and "Self-Reliance" remain its defining texts.
The movement influenced American literature, environmentalism, and civil disobedience.
Thoreau's cabin experiment embodied Transcendentalism's rejection of materialism. (Lowercase transcendentalism is the broader philosophical stance.)
Anglo surname, various namesakes
- Thoreau19th-century American naturalist-essayist
- ConcordUnity or famous places
- New EnglandNortheast U.S. region
- PeabodyAnglo surname, various namesakes
Ripley · antebellum · reform · abolitionism · utopian · lyceum · American Renaissance
Depending on oneself alone
- individualismDoctrine of personal independence
- nonconformityRejection of prevailing norms
- civil disobediencePeaceful refusal to obey
- oversoulUniversal unifying consciousness
inner light · self-cultivation · conscience · autonomy · self-expression · free-thinker · independence · originality
Massachusetts pond and memoir
- Self-RelianceDepending only on oneself
- essaysShort nonfiction prose pieces
- journalsPeriodicals or personal logs
- lecturesFormal instructional talks
sermons · poetry · aphorisms · manifestos
Uncultivated, uninhabited natural region
- Walden PondMassachusetts pond, simplicity symbol
- simplicityLack of complexity
- natural worldNon-artificial environment and organisms
- woodsForested area
solitude · contemplation · ecology · biophilia · landscape · seasons · forest · earth
Sacred nature or nougat-like sweet
- soulInnermost animating essence
- mysticismPursuit of divine union
- cosmosOrderly totality of existence
- higher selfOne's transcendent inner nature
unity · immanence · pantheism · contemplation · spirit · inner light · moral law · perfectionism
Emerson
Anglo surname, various namesakes
- Thoreau19th-century American naturalist-essayist
- ConcordUnity or famous places
- New EnglandNortheast U.S. region
Ripley · Peabody · antebellum · reform · abolitionism · utopian · lyceum · American Renaissance
self-reliance
Depending on oneself alone
- individualismDoctrine of personal independence
- nonconformityRejection of prevailing norms
- civil disobediencePeaceful refusal to obey
oversoul · inner light · self-cultivation · conscience · autonomy · self-expression · free-thinker · independence · originality · self-discovery
Walden
Massachusetts pond and memoir
- Self-RelianceDepending only on oneself
- essaysShort nonfiction prose pieces
- journalsPeriodicals or personal logs
lectures · sermons · poetry · aphorisms · manifestos
wilderness
Uncultivated, uninhabited natural region
- Walden PondMassachusetts pond, simplicity symbol
- simplicityLack of complexity
- natural worldNon-artificial environment and organisms
woods · solitude · contemplation · ecology · biophilia · landscape · seasons · forest · earth · harmony
divinity
Sacred nature or nougat-like sweet
higher self · unity · immanence · pantheism · contemplation · spirit · inner light · moral law · perfectionism · monism
- FaithsChristians, Catholics, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews
- American LiteratureThe Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Moby Dick
- Bay StatersJohn F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Edward Kennedy, John Adams, Abigail Adams
- Cultural MovementsRenaissance, Baroque, Romanticism, Harlem Renaissance, Enlightenment
- literary movementsRomanticism, Realism, Modernism, Surrealism, Symbolism
- nature writingnature writing, Walden, nature poems, wilderness, nature journal
Transcendentalismempiricism
Knowledge through observation
positivism · sensationalism · scientism · rationalism · skepticism
Transcendentalismmaterialism
Prioritizing goods over spirit
physicalism · naturalism · reductionism · mechanism · atomism
Transcendentalismconformism
Adherence to accepted standards
commercialism · industrialism · utilitarianism · social conformity · capitalism