The highest moral right is liberty and from it any other goods will follow. These secondary rights could include freedom to get married, or be a musician, but these are to be pursued privately. Negative liberty is “freedom from”, only when an individual is free to make his own decisions and actions without coercion is a person truly free (Machan 5). This “freedom from” emphasizes right before good. According to Hospers The essential ingredient in all freedom from coercion by other is one’s basic and inalienable right; it is fundamental to human survival and the development of the self (Machan 8).
My Definition: Transcendentalism I would define transcendentalism as an overwhelming sense of being independent, by practicing free thought, not being influenced by anything or anybody to make your own decisions, and the serenity of nature being a divine presence in your spiritual well-being. A person who is transcendental should be able to awaken every morning and look outside and see past the everyday outside objects such as the trees or the clouds. This person should be able to feel the calmness and peace that these simple wonders provide. It is almost a curiosity that the observer should experience, with losing themselves in such magnificent elements. When Ralph Waldo Emerson observed nature, he states that, “nothing can befall him in life, no disgrace or calamity, when he is observing nature.” He is speaking of almost being absorbed into nature and becoming a part of it.
In short, this involves an individual being able to make his/her own decisions that influence his/her own life, regardless of what other individuals choose to do. For this to occur, an individual must be afforded the maximum amount of self-government, or autonomy. Without this very basic privilege, Mill argued, no individual can be said to lead a truly human existence. This is where Mill’s harm principle comes in. It seems clear that if one individual harms another, through whatever means, it makes it more difficult for the harmed individual to carry out parts of their “life-plan”.
Emerson believed that in order for society to move forward, individuals within the society needed to be able to think and depend on themselves. Independence from outside thought and opinion is the only way that humans can acquire true knowledge. Emerson proposed that this idea of “self-reliance” would in fact push society forward. In the Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism, Tiffany K. Wayne writes that: “Emerson's goal was not merely to promote unchecked individualism without regard at all to society. He believed that the creation of more self-reliant individuals would eventually benefit society…” By distancing
Superson’s goal is to defeat the skeptic and does not believe self-interest is sufficient enough to do so. I understand the approach Superson is making about self-interest but I don’t think she is looking at all aspects of the topic. I think people will always act in self-interested ways regardless of the circumstances; people act according to their dispositions, not by force, unless they are being coerced of course. It is human nature to instinctively maximize our personal utility. We act in ways that we see fit, whether or not an act is considered moral is completely dependent upon the individual.
You are not allowed to even think about hurting others let alone talk about it. Satya means truthfulness. You must always speak the truth and what you talk about can have no harmful effects on others. The next vow is Asteya, which means not stealing. You cannot take into possession anything that is not willingly offered.
Independence means standing by your own without depending onto others, you must be on yourself and should not rely to someone’s decision, support/influence. Doing things by your own should be always planned because it’s yourself who will benefit the most Independence also refers to the idea of a state or country which is not controlled by another country.
It is these notions in regards to power that embellish a debate towards the construction of the sovereign individual. “It was by means of the morality of custom and the social straight-jacket that man was really made calculable.” (Nietzsche 40) The social constraint of society according to Nietzsche is an inhibiter in the growth of oneself. By conforming to collective norms one may never truly become an individual, and will forever be repressed by a false power. According to Nietzsche, “the individual who resembles no one but himself, who has once again broken away from the morality of custom, the autonomous supramoral individual (since ‘autonomous’ and ‘moral’ are mutually exclusive) – in short, the man with his own independent, enduring will, the man who is entitled to make promises.” (Nietzsche 41) A promise is a contract made with oneself to uphold a value of trust. Nietzsche perceived the idea of a promise to be hallowed and to be something that can only be holistic from that of a complete being; a sovereign individual.
Lastly, if we were to assume that we are truly in control of our destiny/outcome, living in a vacuum from externalities, what would be the need for gratitude and humility? We would in that world be fully accountable and could boast of our successes or be suicidal in our failures. It simply is not realistic and the guidelines for doing these is to evaluate where our thinking fits inside the confines of the model. My learning and take away is to accept that we do live in a world where externalities do exist, and influence our lives. The key however is to learn to accept that which we cannot change, and take
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson Analyzed In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Self-Reliance, Emerson explains that whether or not we act as individuals all depends on asking ourselves how much self-trust we have, or how much confidence we have in ourselves. He believed that if you’re even the least bit independent then there is beauty even in ordinary, commonplace things. He goes on by describing the things that make you unique like, your intuition and instinct, and how we betray our own principles to go along with what others say and act because we have no confidence in ourselves and therefore, no self-reliance. Basically our minds are like sponges that soak up so much of what society views right that we lose ourselves and what we believe is right. A quote by Emerson that states this perfectly is, “Man’s failure to see light is caused by standing in his own shadow.” Emerson believed that a man should not be what he is not.