PHI 522 – Emerson & American Idealism
This course will explore the work and thought of American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson through the development of what came to be known as Transcendentalism. We will study how this philosophy developed from the Perennial Philosophy through European Idealism to become a unique expression of a vital philosophical vision. What today we call New England Transcendentalism was born in the town of Concord, Massachusetts in the 1830s, when its founder and leader, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote and anonymously published a brief (90 page) book entitled Nature. Intellectuals, including Harvard professors and Unitarian ministers, saw in the book an articulation of new ideas building on principles from the Perennial Philosophy, Neoplatonism, and German Idealism. This course will explore the central ideas of Emerson’s vision in the light of its connection to European Idealism, panpsychism, and Neoplatonism. (3 credits)
This course will explore the work and thought of American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson through the development of what came to be known as Transcendentalism. We will study how this philosophy developed from the Perennial Philosophy through European Idealism to become a unique expression of a vital philosophical vision. What today we call New England Transcendentalism was born in the town of Concord, Massachusetts in the 1830s, when its founder and leader, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote and anonymously published a brief (90 page) book entitled Nature. Intellectuals, including Harvard professors and Unitarian ministers, saw in the book an articulation of new ideas building on principles from the Perennial Philosophy, Neoplatonism, and German Idealism. This course will explore the central ideas of Emerson’s vision in the light of its connection to European Idealism, panpsychism, and Neoplatonism. (3 credits)