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Essays on epistemology in American Transcendentalism
Abstract
In the dynamic ferment of American Transcendentalism a number of men and women arose who continue to claim thoughtful attention. Their influence upon American literary, philosophical, political, and social thought, however assessed, occupies a solid place in the history of the nineteenth century. It is difficult if not impossible to mark the first stirrings of transcendental thought in America. There can hardly be any doubt that German idealism impinged markedly upon the thought of those who came to be designated Transcendentalists in America. Strains of European transcendentalism can be clearly traced in the writings of Americans like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and Margaret Fuller. At the same time, George Willis Cooke offers evidence to support the claim that there was much transcendental thought in America prior to the importation of Kantian idealism, directly or through Coleridge (1-39). Whether American transcendentalism be viewed as a thought system or simply as a movement, it is the presupposition of these essays that epistemology was quite important to all the writers considered. The essays are also built upon the postulate that a consideration of the Transcendentalists' epistemology is essential to an understanding of much if not all they were seriously concerned with. These essays reveal the far-ranging effects of epistemological considerations upon the Transcendentalists' view of education, their social theory, literary criticism, religious outlook, as well as their ontology. Epistemology in one way or another colors all their thought. Emerson openly espouses the philosophy of idealism. Few of the others even come close to this; for them "idealism" is more of an ethical or aesthetic outlook. Thoreau's epistemology is hard-headed and eminently practical. Fuller's epistemological concerns seem more aesthetically oriented. Parker has the background and the intellectual skill to engage eagerly in high-level debate with the followers of Locke. Analysis of the epistemology of these representative Transcendentalists reveals that they combined empiricism with rational thought but especially felt closer to truth when moved by the "velocities" of intuition.
Subject Area
American literature|Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Lawrence, Robert Wilson, "Essays on epistemology in American Transcendentalism" (1990). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9030134.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9030134