Transcendentalism and Trancendentalists 1835-1860?

Question

What is transcendentalism? Is it a religion? I've been doing research but even dictionary.com definition of transcendentalism is really complex. I'm doing a paper on Trancendentalists 1835-1860, does anyone know who they are and why are they so important? Are they philosophers? Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

It's interesting that you ask whether transcendentalism is a religion, because I think most scholars of American literature, philosophy, and history would call it an intellectual movement rather than an established religion. Nonetheless, the movement has a heavy spiritual essence to it.

For the transcendentalists, spirituality was a subjective, private matter. Most organized religions have specific programs and dogma that are fixed and held to be True (with a capital 'T'). Further, the transcendentalists believed that Truth is apprehend by an inner essence rather than through the senses. Scientific observations, for example, would be anti-transcendentalist if such observations were used to assign Truth.

I am probably more aligned with the anti-transcendentalists: The guiding forces of the universe are chaos, hostility, and murder. The transcendentalists would say that the guiding forces of the universe are God, nature, and human spirituality.

The movie "Grizzly Man" is a great example of the collision of transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism.

Generally, the transcendentalists were authors and philosophers. In the 19th century, intellectuals didn't always pigeonhole themselves into specific disciplines, often because back then it wasn't always easy for people to understand the difference between, say, a chemist and a pharmacist. Today, professions and careers are much more understandable and determined, which probably isn't a good thing, but that's another matter altogether.

The transcendentalists and anti-transcendentalists are important because they are decidedly American in their thought processes. The residues of their work colors contemporary American politics.

Answer 2

Transcendentalism was not a religion.
It was a movement, often referred as Enlightenment.
New styles of art and ideas were formed.
The Mormon religon was formed during this time by a man named Joseph Smith. The major difference this religion showed was poligomy, or the ability to have more than one wife.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Harvy David Thoreau were famous Transcendentalits. Harvy wrote speechs and was an abolitionist.
Abolitionists wanted immediate removal of slavery. Moby Dick was written during this time, as well as The Scarlet Letter.