The American Scholar

Originally titled "An Oration Delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, at Cambridge, [Massachusetts,] August 31, 1837," Emerson delivered
what is now referred to as "The American Scholar" essay as a speech to
Harvard's Phi Beta Kappa Society, an honorary society of male college
students with unusually high grade point averages. At the time, women were
barred from higher education, and scholarship was reserved exclusively for
men.
Emerson published the speech under its original title as a pamphlet
later that same year and republished it in 1838. In 1841, he included the essay
in his book Essays, but changed its title to "The American Scholar" to enlarge
his audience to all college students, as well as other individuals interested in
American letters. Placed in his Man Thinking: An Oration (1841), the essay
found its final home in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures (1849).
The text begins with an introduction (paragraphs 1-7) in which
Emerson explains that his intent is to explore the scholar as one function of
the whole human being: The scholar is "Man Thinking." The remainder of
the essay is organized into four sections, the first three discussing the
influence of nature (paragraphs 8 and 9), the influence of the past and books
(paragraphs 10-20), and the influence of action (paragraphs 21-30) on the
education of the thinking man. In the last section (paragraphs 31-45),
Emerson considers the duties of the scholar and then discusses his views of
America in his own time.
Readers should number each paragraph in pencil as these Notes make
reference to individual paragraphs in the essay.

Never a truly organized body of thought, and characterized by defects

as well as inspirational ideals, transcendentalism became one of the most
subtly influential trends in nineteenth-century America. Three main currents
contributed to this uniquely American school of thought: neo-Platonism and
the belief in an ideal state of existence; British romanticism, with its
emphasis on individualism; and the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
From neo-Platonism — as nineteenth-century educated Americans
understood it — came the belief in the primacy of intellectual thinking over
material reality, an idea originated by the Greek philosopher Plato. Through a
series of dramatic dialogues, Plato argues that there are ideal forms existing in
an absolute reality; in the material world in which we live, all objects and
phenomena are imperfect representations of these ideals. Our entire lives are
spent trying to perfect ourselves and our environment in hopes of attaining
an ideal existence. Agreeing with Plato, philosophers like Emerson and his
fellow transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott go so far as to say that ideas
are the only reality: The tangible world exists solely as a manifestation of pure
ideas.
This preoccupation with pure ideas also appears in the writings of the
German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who was first to use the term
"transcendentalism." His philosophical investigations of the pure workings
of the mind were extremely influential throughout Western culture during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially as they pertain to American
transcendentalism. Kant believes that transcendental knowledge is limited
because, as humans, we can understand only what we are capable of
perceiving. If we cannot perceive something, it simply does not exist.
Other German transcendentalists, with whom Emerson is closer in his
thinking, expand Kant's reasoning. They argue that simply because we cannot
perceive something does not mean that it does not exist. Emerson maintains
that the soul exists, but he admits that he cannot define what this soul is,
other than acknowledging when he senses it in himself or in another person.
British romanticism also influenced Emerson and transcendentalism.
Romantics such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
advocate the primacy of the individual over the community and foster a
belief in the authenticity of individual vision over the conventions and
formalities of institutions. For romantics and transcendentalists alike, all
institutions — be they religious, social, political, or economic — are suspect
as being false, materialistic, and deadening to an individual's pure insight.
Both movements emphasize personal insight, or intuition, as a
privileged form of knowledge. Such fierce adherence to individuality, a
mainstay in Emerson's writing, influenced the progressive social movement
of the mid-nineteenth century. Individuality came to be recognized as a God-
given right, a belief that holds as true today as it did during Emerson's life.
Another strong influence on Emerson's expression of transcendentalism is
the writings of the Swedish mystic-philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg.
Heavily influenced by Swedenborg's belief in the absolute unity of God
— not the Trinity — and in our personal responsibility for our salvation,
Emerson expresses strong distrust and criticism of the restrictions and
shallowness of conventional society. He is not the visionary that others
influenced by Swedenborg are, but he advocates an ecstatic, visionary
approach to life and to knowledge. Many of his essays express admiration for
Swedenborg and acknowledge the influence that Swedenborg had on his own
thinking.
The major emphasis of American transcendentalism is transcendence, which
involves reaching beyond what can be expressed in words or understood in
logical or rational thinking to seek the genesis of our existence. By gaining a
new understanding, we attain a heightened awareness of the world and our
rightful place in it.
Emerson refers to this all-encompassing force that he credits for the
mystery of our existence by various terms: God, the Universal Being, the
Over-Soul. He closely identifies nature with this force, to the extent that,
finally, his philosophy is generally judged to be pantheistic rather than theistic.
That is, God coexists with nature, sharing similar powers, rather than being a
power beyond it.
According to transcendentalists like Emerson, a person who follows
intuition and remains faithful to personal vision will become a more moral,
idealistic individual. For many of Emerson's contemporaries, including Henry
David Thoreau and Amos Bronson Alcott, such a course of action resulted
in an idealism that formed the basis for their actions, especially actions that
undertook to critique and change what was perceived as evil in society. For
example, Thoreau went to jail rather than pay taxes to support America's
involvement in the Mexican War.
Transcendentalism also provided one major philosophical foundation
for the abolition of slavery. However, while individuals such as Emerson
combined transcendentalism with spirituality, the essentially pantheistic
nature of the theory paved the way for more materialistic and exploitative
expression. The doctrine of self-reliance mutated from an expression of
moral integrity to a simple assertion of self-promotion and selfishness.
To a great extent, transcendentalism was a local phenomenon centered
in Concord, Massachusetts, and was developed by a group of individuals
from New England and New York who knew and communicated closely
with each other. Their ideas were seldom successfully put into action, but at
least one attempt is worthy of mention. Brook Farm, a utopian community
founded on transcendentalist principles, lasted some six or seven years before
it dissolved, to the financial loss of many who had invested in the venture.
The novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, who lived there for a time and later
wrote about the experience in The Blithedale Romance (1852), felt that its
weakness was its lack of government, and that the community failed because
too few of its members were willing to do the physical work required to make
it viable. Although it failed materially, Emerson, with his characteristic
optimism, believed it to be a noble experiment that provided invaluable
education and enlightenment for the participants. He did not live there, but
he visited the site and included a brief, personal account of Brook Farm in
one of his writings, Historic Notes of Life and Letters in New England.
Any writer or speaker who wishes to explain or promote a philosophy
such as transcendentalism confronts the problem of discussing in language
ideas that are, by definition, beyond language. Emerson resorts to imagery,
but his writings are frequently cryptic, apparently contradictory, enigmatic, or
simply confusing. Like other transcendentalists, he does not offer an
organized body of thought; rather, he tends to circle a subject, offering
comparisons, analogies, and hypotheses.
Some of the major concepts of transcendentalism have persisted and
become foundational in American thought. Probably the most important of
these is the affirmation of the right of individuals to follow truth as they see
it, even when contrary to established laws or customs. This principle inspired
both the nineteenth-century abolitionist movement and the twentieth-century
civil rights and conscientious objector movements.

The American Scholar, a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson to the Phi Beta
Kappa Society, is a piece of literature that addresses exactly what it takes to be a scholar
and to think intellectually. Emerson hits three major themes; nature, the past, and action.
Emerson goes on to explain each of these in depth, including past examples of each and
how each is vital to an intellectual mind.
Emerson starts with the idea of nature. He states that although we now see
nature and man as separate, as we begin to think intellectually and critically, these
classifications are no longer needed and that, in time, man must renew his relationship
with nature. Emerson is also a strong believer in the fact that a scholar must have a
strong understanding of the past and past works of literature. At the same time, he is
sure to remind one cannot sit down and read all of the same old works of literature over
and over.
Instead he encouraged the use of those books as inspiration and that the should
not be “glorified and endlessly copied”. Finally, Emerson touches upon the idea of
action. Although it is the least important to the scholar of the three, it is still important
nonetheless. Emerson and others see action as important to any one person, but
especially to a scholar. Scholars must learn from these past experiences and the past
experiences of others to make calculated and intellectual decisions. Without careful
deliberation of these three themes (nature, the past, and action) one cannot begin to
become a scholar or think scholarly.
Although the three themes Emerson touches upon in The American Scholar are
only thirds without all together, the most prominent of the three is nature. Simply from
the amount of times it is referenced one can say that Emerson saw this to be the most
important of the three as well. Emerson point about nature through the speech can be
summarized as follows: To be a scholar, one must set classifications that separate man
and nature aside and focus on the connections, not the disconnections, between the two
of us. Emerson states that there is a difference between a Man Thinking and a mere
thinker, and that nature plays a big part in the distinction. “Him nature solicits with all
her placid, all her monitory pictures; him the past instructs; him the future
invites.” (Emerson 57) It is important to remember that Emerson is speaking to an
audience of men who think themselves to be Man Thinking as opposed to a thinking
man.
As these guidelines as to what a scholar is and what a scholar thinks about are set
by Emerson, the audience now must think again. They must re-evaluate their level of
intellect and check to see that their level of thought is up to par with a true scholar.
As Emerson expands on his point that a scholar must reconnect his thoughts and his
mind with nature, on page 58 he explains that Nature is forever rolling, and folding, and
turning, and growing. Nature is a force that not even the strongest of men can stop.
Nature is here for every man to see, but no man can possess it. He continues with
the idea that to be a scholar, one must think intensely about nature. Of how man and
nature are one, and separate. How nature is the root of all life, and our lives are a part of
nature. As we begin to know more of ourselves, we begin the mastery of nature,
explained by Emerson as “And, in fine, the ancient precept, “Know thyself,” and the
modern precept, “Study nature,” become at last one maxim.” In this quote, Emerson
compares the ancient idea of knowing yourself to knowing nature, again, connecting
man with nature.
Knowing yourself and knowing nature can be directly correlated and charted
according to Emerson. In the paragraph receding the earlier stated quote comparing
knowing oneself to knowing nature, Emerson boldly says the inverse, that a lack of
knowledge about nature is a lack in knowledge about oneself. Although bold, and
perhaps farfetched, Emerson makes great over-arching point about thinking and
thinkers. In this he creates this notion that to not fully invest yourself in one type of
thought, is to not fully invest yourself in any type of thought. To achieve Man Thinking,
a mere thinking man must begin to question everything as intensely as he had questioned
one idea before. One must think intensely about everything all the time, while still
maintaining a clear mind.
Emerson also compares a school-boy sitting outside under the sun to the process
every thinker must go thorough before truly understanding nature. That to finally
understand that nature is connected and that the soul of humans and the natural
philosophy of nature are all one greater idea, is only the beginning. These revelations pf
the schoolboy are just the finger tips of the “gigantic hand” that is nature. To natures
giant hand, we are an infant. An infant that needs a hand to brace himself as he learns to
walk, or a thinker who needs to be shown the connection which , in turn, turns the
thinking man into Man Thinking.