Although they were separated by a generation in age, they were two men of the same beliefs and shared the same ideas. Emerson became acquainted with Thoreau in 1837 when he was thirty-four and Thoreau a twenty year old Harvard senior. (Emerson 145) Emerson attended Harvard and then became a Unitarian minister just like his father had been. Thoreau also attended Harvard but upon graduating, became a teacher and opened up a school. These two men believe that nature is what forces us not to depend on others ideas but to develop our own.
Both Emerson and Thoreau believe that in order to find deep meaning in life, you must live simply. In addition to living simply, both men believe in the value of the soul. Thoreau goes to the woods to contemplate life and to get in touch with his soul He wants to get in touch with his soul. He wants to, get the whole and genuine meanness of it (Thoreau 235). Emerson similarly says, the one thing in the world of value is the active soul (Emerson 218).
Thoreau’s Walden: An Appeal for Human Reform Henry David Thoreau was one of America’s first great philosophers. Following in his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson’s footsteps, Thoreau was an avid transcendentalist of the mid-19th century. In his most famous work, Walden, he describes his two-year experiment living in a small cabin on Walden Pond. His dwelling is located about a mile and a half from Concord, Massachusetts, on Emerson’s land. In the book, Thoreau rejects the standard pace of life and reflects on human behavior.
Historical Analysis of Candide Anthropology has been influenced by several events and eras throughout the history of mankind. Mostly taking place in the 18th century, the Enlightenment was a cultural movement, created by intellectuals, who wanted to reform society and its traditional beliefs and values through natural human reason. According to Immanuel Kant, Enlightenment is “man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity. Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another. ( Brainy Quotes)” This statement and definition of immaturity is directly related to the history of mankind, and how people do not use their own intelligence to guide their lives.
This distinction also helps us look into our own minds, to better analyze our thoughts and beliefs when it comes to religion. Learning the distinction between ‘Natural Religion’ and ‘Biblical Faith’ will help with analyzing both past arguments we have learned, and arguments that have yet to come. In Herberg’s esteemed writing, “Biblical Faith and Natural Religion” he begins the paper with an introduction to some of Jules Masserman’s ideas. In presenting Masserman’s ideas of “The Ur-Defenses of Man” [Herberg 175], Herberg is able to set up a basis for his argument. Masserman at heart agrees with Freud’s argument that religion is an illusion humans hold onto, but he makes a key distinction in saying that this illusion is necessary for the well doing of human beings, “they are substitutive or compensatory beliefs, quite necessary to make human life at all livable” [Herberg 177].
The notion that a person finds out the truth within him is called self-actualization, using Kierkegaard’s terms. A person has to find meaning for himself within his own life, as the truth is meant to give purpose and meaning to that individual. Universal reason and truth is not enough for full self-actualization, as only the ethical is the universal. The faith in God and commitment to the religious part of one’s life allows for transformation to the final stage of self-actualization. Self-actualization is the notion by Kierkegaard where the goal is the affirmation of the individual as an individual, with the actual making of the true self within.
His parents were Edward Cummings (the first Sociology professor at Harvard University turned Unitarian minister) and Rebecca Cummings. Cummings also had a younger sister named Elizabeth. Cummings attended both Cambridge Latin School and Harvard University where he studied languages and later earned an MA from Harvard’s school of Arts and Science. The poet spent a lot of time on his family’s “Joy Farm” in Silver Lake, New Hampshire where he also died in 1962. The house was later marked as a historic landmark in 1971 by the state of New Hampshire.
Individualism is an important theme of the Transcendental movement. An individual needs to demonstrate original thoughts, develop his own moral values, and display independence in order to achieve inner growth and fulfillment in life. In Emerson and Thoreau’s philosophical writings, the authors agree that in the transition from childhood to adulthood, man loses his individuality which negatively affects his life, and that reclaiming individualism by avoiding societal conformity and living a person’s own experiences is critical to personal growth. Yet, both authors present contrasting thoughts on how this individualism may be achieved. Emerson and Thoreau agree that in the transition from childhood to adulthood, man restricts original thoughts and actions so that he may be accepted by others, which impedes his individual growth.
The new wave of the Transcendentalist movement was sparked around the time of Emerson’s personal crisis surrounding his vocation, thus launching him to the forefront of the movement, a movement that would largely define the career of his literary genius. Emerson would impact literature for his generation and the generations to come through his influence and guidance given to the poets whose work he helped grow and develop. Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25th, 1803 to Ruth Haskins Emerson and William Emerson, who was a Unitarian minister. When Emerson was seven, his father passed, leaving his mother, Ruth, to care for their six children. This was Emerson’s first lesson in self-reliance as he witnessed his mother raise six children on her own while living off solely a small stipend from the church and an additional income from taking boarders into their home (Huff, vol.
In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Open Boat” nature is the main aspect of survival in one way or another. In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Huck Finn uses his relationship with nature as a survival mechanism. He is more comfortable in a natural environment, than an institutional environment. Huck knows how to fend for himself and live off the land. When Huck Finn live with his father, he, “Fished and hunted and that was what we lived on” (Twain 115).