American Literature
community could be formed. Transcendentalism was in many aspects the first notable American intellectual movement. It certainly was the first to
inspire succeeding generations of American intellectuals, as well as a number of literary monuments. Rooted in the transcendental philosophy of
Immanuel Kant (and of German Idealism more generally), it developed as a reaction against 18th Century rationalism, John Locke's philosophy of
Sensualism, and the predestinationism of New England Calvinism. Its fundamental a variety of diverse sources such as: Vedic thought, various
religions, and German idealism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of
the mid19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he
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