Emerson�s �Self-Reliance�

							Emerson’s ―Self-Reliance‖

        HMXP 102
         Dr. Fike
                 Question
• Did you find ―Self-Reliance‖ difficult to
  read? If so, why?
                  Vocabulary
•   piquant (par. 3)
•   éclat (par. 4)
•   titular (par. 6)
•   ephemeral (par. 6)
•   sot (par. 6)
•   aversation (par. 9)
•   Monachism (par. 11)
•   apologue (par. 12)
•   impertinence (par. 12)
      American Romanticism
• Emerson was part of the Romantic
  movement in literature.
• In particular, this movement emphasized
  two important things:
  – Humans’ connection with nature
  – The importance of emotion and imagination
    over reason
Major Concept: Transcendentalism
•   "A reliance on the intuition and the conscience.... The group [of transcendentalists]
    seemed to agree that within the nature of human beings there was something that
    transcended human experience--an intuitive and personal revelation."
•   "Transcendentalists believed in living close to nature and taught the dignity of
    manual labor. They strongly felt the need of intellectual companionships and
    emphasized spiritual living. Every person's relation to God was to be
    established directly by the individual rather than through a ritualistic church. They
    held that human beings were divine in their own right, an opinion opposed to the
    doctrines held by the Puritan Calvinists in New England. Self-trust and self-reliance
    were to be practiced at all times, because to trust self was really to trust the voice of
    God speaking intuitively within us. The transcendentalists believed in democracy
    and individualism."
•   "The transcendentalists were among the early advocates of the enfranchisement of
    women."
•   "Ultimately...transcendentalism was an epistemology—a way of knowing—and what
    tied together the frequently contradictory attitudes of the loosely formed group was
    the belief that human beings can intuitively transcend the limits of the senses
    and of logic and directly receive higher truths denied to more mundane methods
    of knowing."

    Source: Harmon and Holman's A Handbook to Literature, my emphasis
                    The Main Points

•   We should rely on intuition and the conscience.
•   The importance of intuition and personal revelation.
•   Living close to nature is good.
•   There is dignity in manual labor.
•   Intellectual companionships are important.
•   Spiritual living is key.
•   Every person's relation to God can be established directly.
•   Human beings are divine.
•   Self-trust and self-reliance are important virtues.
•   So are democracy and individualism.
•   Women should be able to vote.
•   ―Human beings can intuitively transcend the limits of the senses and
    of logic and directly receive higher truths.‖
            Writing in Class
• Write for 5 minutes in response to these
  two questions:
  – What is YOUR definition of self-reliance.
  – Identify an example of self-reliance or its
    opposite from your personal experience.
     Group Work: 10 minutes
• Share your definition in 5 small groups of 4-5
  people apiece.
• Then do the following three things:
  – Come up with a definition of "self-reliance" to share
    with the class.
  – Fill out the chart on the Emerson handout (use
    arrows to indicate which column each item
    belongs in).
  – Consider how what you just discovered about
    Emersonian self-reliance relates to
    Transcendentalism. Mark the items on the handout
    that best illustrate Transcendentalism.
     Whole-class Discussion
• What is your group’s definition of ―self-
  reliance‖?
• Let’s go over the chart and make sure that
  your arrows are correct.
• Which items on the chart best illustrate
  Transcendentalism?
      Large-group Discussion
• Do you advocate Emersonian self-reliance or
  not?
• Do you really think that your own ―inner voice‖ is
  more important than thinking, for example, what
  the Christian church—or some other faith—tells
  you to believe?
• If you agree with Emerson, what does this imply
  about your inner resources?
• For an opposite view, see the next slide.
                           John Locke
•   An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: ―This I take to be properly
    enthusiasm, which though founded neither on reason, nor divine revelation,
    but rising from the conceits of a warmed or over-weening brain, works yet,
    where it once gets footing, more powerfully on the persuasions and actions
    of men, than either of those two, or both together: Men being most
    forwardly obedient to the impulses they receive from themselves; and the
    whole man is sure to act more vigorously, where the whole man is carried
    by a natural motion. For strong conceit like a new principle carries all easily
    with it, when got above common sense, and freed from all restraint of
    reason and check of reflection, it is heightened into a divine authority, in
    concurrence with our own temper and inclination.‖

•   He associates enthusiasm with laziness, ignorance, and vanity. Enthusiasts
    ―are sure, because they are sure.‖ Thinking makes it so.
   Connections to Other Texts
• Plato: Truth is transcendent.
• Lakoff & Johnson: Truth is a social
  construct.
• Emerson: Truth is a matter of individual
  conscience.
• Mill: Truth is something that persons work
  toward as a society via free thought and
  discussion.
     Connections to Other Texts
• Plato: "his shadow on the wall" (Emerson, par. 10).
    – Plato and Emerson are both opposed to false appearances.
    – But Plato thinks that Truth is transcendent; Emerson thinks that truth is
      whatever one thinks it is.
    – Emerson, par. 1: "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is
      true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius."
• Lakoff and Johnson would argue that believing your own truth is a
  prescription for discord with other people and nations. In addition,
  many of Emerson’s statements contain metaphors.
• Mill: Various issues:
    – Would Emerson approve of the liberty of thought and discussion?
    – Would he agree with Mill on the negative (restrictive) role of the church
      and of its dogmas?
    – Would Emerson agree with Mill on the following: "Those who desire to
      suppress it [opinion]...have no authority to decide the question for all
      mankind, and exclude every other person from the means of judging"
      (Mill, par. 3)?
     More on Mill and Emerson
• Mill: "Those who desire to suppress it
  [opinion]...have no authority to decide the
  question for all mankind, and exclude every
  other person from the means of judging."

• Emerson: ―To believe your own thought, to
  believe that what is true for you in your private
  heart is true for all men—that is genius.‖

• WHO IS RIGHT?
       Another Group Activity
• On the next slide are further questions for
  your group. If you finish talking about your
  group’s item, go on to one of the others.
 Group Work: What Does Emerson
    Say about Each of These?
1. Great men and institutions (first full page, left; fourth full page, left and right; fifth full page,
       right; last page, left):
      –      How can a particular brand of thinking be great when it is fresh but then negative when it becomes an
             institution?
      –      Can't one be self-reliant in Emerson’s sense while still adhering to an intellectual tradition?
      –      If even great men do not break wholly from tradition, is tradition really as negative as Emerson wants us
             to believe?
2. Independence (first full page, right):
      –      Is there a problem with living ―wholly from within‖ (par. 6)?
      –      Doesn't society perform an important civilizing function?
3. The shadow/sinfulness (“Chaos and the Dark,” par. 2):
      –      Is there a problem with living ―wholly from within‖—i.e., in communication with ―the internal ocean‖ (par.
             15)? See also the first epigraph and par. 6.
      –      Doesn’t Emerson’s prescription for self-reliance rest on the assumption that what is within is wholly
             good?
      –      How might Transcendentalism be fundamentally flawed?
      –      What do YOU believe about your inner life?
      –      Is it all ―sugar and spice and everything nice‖? Isn’t there also darkness?
4. History (third full page, right):
      –      Does Emerson have an ―elitist‖ view of history?
      –      Might a society that pays attention to historical lessons be able to advance?
      –      If not, why not? Is it because of the human nature that he considers so positive?
      –      Couldn't learning history's lessons help us avoid repeating past mistakes?
5. Travel (par. 17, right):
      –      Do you agree or disagree with Emerson's position on travel?
     Great Men and Institutions
1. Great men and institutions (first full page,
    left; fourth full page, left and right; fifth full
    page, right; last page, left):
   – How can a particular brand of thinking be
       great when it is fresh but then negative
       when it becomes an institution?
   – Can't one be self-reliant in Emerson’s sense
       while still adhering to an intellectual
       tradition?
   – If even great men do not break wholly from
       tradition, is tradition really as negative as
       Emerson wants us to believe?
       Great Men and Institutions
•   Emerson lauds Moses, Plato, Jesus, and Milton; however, he is critical of
    institutions as ―the lengthened shadow[s] of one man.‖
•   Emerson simply doesn’t understand literature. He says, ―Every great man
    is a unique‖ (par. 18), and he mentions Moses, Dante, Milton, and
    Shakespeare as examples. But while, say, Shakespeare and Milton did
    new things, they relied heavily on previous literature.
•   Mention the New Historical view of authorship as collaborative.
•   How can a particular brand of thinking be great when it is fresh but then
    negative when it becomes an institution? Can't one be self-reliant in
    Emerson’s sense while still adhering to an intellectual tradition?
•   But he does not acknowledge that all of these men, to one degree or
    another, relied on previous tradition even as they created something unique
    and new.
•   If even great men do not break wholly from tradition, is tradition really as
    negative as Emerson wants us to believe?
                 Authors
• ―…works of art are the products not merely
  of an individual writer’s genius but also of
  the culture that produced that writer.‖

 Source: Russ McDonald, The Bedford
 Companion to Shakespeare, 2nd ed., page
 12.
          More on Great Men
• Do you agree that the best way to cultivate the
  self is to be self-reliant in the Emersonian
  sense?
• What can we learn about the self from previous
  writers, existing institutions, history, and
  travel? Why throw out all of this and say, "It's all
  up to ME"?
• ―Do that which is assigned to you, and you
  cannot hope too much or dare too much‖ (par.
  18).
• If previous writers do not matter, why should
  we bother to read Emerson? Isn't there
  something self-indicting about his position?
            Independence
2. Independence (first full page, right):
   – Is there a problem with living ―wholly
     from within‖ (par. 6)?
   – Doesn't society perform an important
     civilizing function?
        The Shadow/Sinfulness
3. The shadow/sinfulness (“Chaos and the Dark,” par.
    2):
   – Is there a problem with living ―wholly from within‖—
        i.e., in communication with ―the internal ocean‖ (par.
        15)? See also the first epigraph and par. 6.
   – Doesn’t Emerson’s prescription for self-reliance rest
        on the assumption that what is within is wholly
        good?
   – How might Transcendentalism be fundamentally
        flawed?
   – What do YOU believe about your inner life?
   – Is it all ―sugar and spice and everything nice‖? Isn’t
        there also darkness?
         The Shadow/Sinfulness
• Again, is there a problem with living ―wholly from within‖—i.e., in
  communication with ―the internal ocean‖? Jung says that this
  ―internal ocean" is the collective unconscious, which contains a
  record of all human experience both positive AND negative.
• See also Romans 7:18-20: ―For I know that nothing good dwells
  within me, that is, in my flesh. For I do not do the good I want, but
  the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it
  is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.‖
• Is Emerson getting at this in par. 2 when he mentions ―Chaos and
  the Dark‖? See also epigraph one, ―fatal shadows‖; and par. 6,
  ―from below, not from above‖ and ―Devil.‖
• Doesn’t Emerson’s prescription for self-reliance rest on the
  assumption that what is within is wholly good? How might
  Transcendentalism be fundamentally flawed?
• What do YOU believe about your inner life? Is it all ―sugar and spice
  and everything nice,‖ or is there also darkness?
                 History
4. History (third full page, right):
   – Does Emerson have an ―elitist‖ view of
     history?
   – Might a society that pays attention to
     historical lessons be able to advance?
   – If not, why not? Is it because of the
     human nature that he considers so
     positive?
   – Couldn't learning history's lessons help
     us avoid repeating past mistakes?
                        History
• Emerson states that ―history is an impertinence and an
  injury, if it be any thing more than a cheerful apologue or
  parable of my being and becoming‖ (par. 12).

• Later he says, ―Society never advances‖ (par. 20). Well,
  maybe that is because it views history as impertinent
  and does not learn anything from it. Might a society that
  pays attention to historical lessons be able to
  advance? If not, why not? Is it because of the human
  nature that he considers so positive? Couldn't learning
  history's lessons help us avoid repeating past mistakes?
                   Travel
5. Travel (par. 17, right):
   – Do you agree or disagree with Emerson's
      position on travel?
                    Travel
• Emerson states, ―Traveling is a fool’s paradise‖
  (par. 17), but who we are is somewhat
  dependent on our place and time. Traveling
  strips away cultural accretions and enables us to
  understand ourselves (our SELVES) more
  clearly and fully. Yes, we are the same abroad
  as we are in Rock Hill, but REALIZING that fact
  is a good reason to travel, isn’t it? Why else do
  you think that college students often study
  abroad? Do you agree or disagree with
  Emerson's position on travel?
     Contrasting Views on Travel
•   Emerson: ―Traveling is a fool’s paradise‖ (par. 17).

•   Emerson, elsewhere: ―Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
    we must carry it with us, or we find it not.‖

•   Watts: ―Nothing tends so much to enlarge the mind as travelling.‖

•   St. Augustine: ―The world is a book; those who never leave home read only
    a page.‖

•   Mark Twain: ―Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.‖

•   T.S. Eliot:
    ―We shall not cease from exploration
    And the end of all our exploring
    Will be to arrive where we started
    And know the place for the first time.‖
      Use the ―Fallacy Handout‖ To
     Identify the Following Fallacies
• Par. 6: "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own
  mind."
• Par. 7: ―This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars,
  authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars.‖
• Par. 10: "With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do."
• Par. 11: "Every true man is a cause, a country, and an age;
  requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish
  his design;--and posterity seem to follow his steps as a train of
  clients."
• Par. 11: "...all history resolves itself very easily into the biography of
  a few stout and earnest persons."
• Par. 16: "...I obey no law less than the eternal law."
• Par. 17: "Traveling is a fool's paradise."
• Par. 19: "All men plume themselves on the improvement of society,
  and no man improves. Society never advances."
                      Papers
• Take a good quotation and evaluate it in
  connection with your own experience.
• Here are some suggestions:
  – Par. 6: Emerson’s statements against charity or the
    church (―the dear old doctrines of the church‖).
  – Par. 10: ―A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of
    little minds, adored by little statesmen and
    philosophers and divines.‖
  – Par. 10: ―If, therefore, a man claims to know and
    speak of God, and carries you backward to the
    phraseology of some old mouldered nation in another
    country [think the Bible], in another world, believe him
    not‖ (62).
  – Par. 17: ―Traveling is a fool’s paradise.‖
   Summary and Implications
• What is Emerson suggesting about your
  SELF?
• In other words, in what ways do you
  understand your SELF better after having
  read and discussed Emerson?
• Jot down a few ideas.
• What do you think about Emerson’s ―Self-
  Reliance‖ NOW?
      Some Possible Answers
• We should think in ways that are independent of
  others, history, tradition, and institutions
  (especially the church).
• We should trust and cultivate our inner voice,
  our intuition, and our unconscious resources.
• But please do not believe Emerson when he
  suggests that we should listen only to the
  ―authority of the soul‖ (par. 12) or that we should
  only be charitable to those who are like
  ourselves.

                              END