On American New England Transcendental Philosophy

“Transcendental”is a concept first proposed by Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason,in which Kant defined transcendental philosophy as“the life wisdom of pure reason which is only speculative”.American New England Transcendental Philosophy is a set of ideological doctrines initiated by Emerson in the 1^sthalf of the 19^thcentury in the Northeastern New England area of the United States under the influence of Kant and post-Kantian philosophy.Thoreau,Emerson’s disciple,is one of the core figures in the dissemination and development of New England Transcendental Philosophy.Seeking to break free of Calvinist and Unitarian ideas,Emerson joined a group of like-minded people in New England in the northeast of the United States to form the Transcendentalist Club.There they often hold small-scale seminars on the relationship between body,mind and nature.They stress that the“Over-soul”is the source of all good,and at the same time has all the characteristics of good.Everyone as an individual has the potential of being integrated with the Over-soul.Their individualistic propositions and views in pursuit of self-assistance are called“American New England Transcendentalism”,which has laid the foundation for the formation of the American national spirit and is regarded as the spiritual independence of America.It has ever-lasting vitality with far-reaching influence.Kant’s conception of“Understanding”and“Reason”reached the American continent through Aids to Reflection by Coleridge and was adopted by Emerson and other scholars.The core idea of its thought lies in:the whole and part,spirit and matter,man and nature are organic unity,indivisible.There is an obvious difference between Coleridge’s understanding of“Reason”and Kant’s philosophy.However,he overcomes the narrow sensualist theory that has dominated British thought since Locke’s time and emphasizes that“imagination”is the plastic power of human mind,which can transcend perceptual materials and connect the mind with ultimate and extra-sensory reality.Coleridge essentially got rid of the mechanism in the Post-Enlightenment European culture and injected vitality into the revival of New England’s ideology and culture through the reformation of Kant’s philosophy.Emerson completely denied the Calvinist doctrine of original sin with his self-assistant theory advocated by his series speeches.He firmly believed that there existed a“divine impulse”in the core of human nature.The power produced by this“divine impulse”can inspire people to release unlimited potentials.This theory has already become the core concept of the New England transcendentalist thoughts.The self as an individual is a complete unity with the universal abstract self contained in it.Self-building should therefore be seen as a public rather than an individual act,a respect for principle rather than an act of selfishness.Emerson defined the divinity as the over-soul,thus providing the necessary space for the free development of individuals.Emerson’s“rational practice”has always been constrained by his strong desire“to put into practical actions”.This reflected a common dilemma faced by the New England transcendentalists:on the one hand,they kept an indifferent attitude towards specific social affairs,but on the other hand,in endless patience,they hoped that they could take action to change the situation by virtue of the practical ability granted by the gift,constantly seeking for the basis for action.It can be said that the New England Transcendental Philosophy represented by Emerson began with theory and ended with theory,and Emerson never took the step of“taking action to change the status quo”.However,its influence is extremely far-reaching:Emerson’s philosophy directly influenced James,Dewey,Gandhi,Martin Luther King,and his transcendental philosophy is recognized as the logical starting point of American individualism and pragmatism.In fact,it’s as if there are two cores in the same gene,and the two cores of American individualism and pragmatism are bred in the gene of transcendentalism.In contrast with Emerson,his mentor,who was still waiting in“patience”to“look for the basis for action”,Thoreau directly went into the woods,and built a cabin on Emerson’s private land by Walden.He thus began his solitary experimental life by the lake for two years and two months,so as to understand“the essentials of life”.If Emerson is the theorist and founder of the transcendentalism movement,Thoreau is the practitioner and promoter of this movement.Thoreau’s brave step forward marked the birth of ecocentrism,a philosophy of“his own mind and spirit”.It can be said that in addition to pragmatism and individualism,Thoreau’s ecocentrism is the third core of New England Transcendental Philosophy.The important value contained in New England transcendental philosophy can be extracted by the following ways:tracing the social background and the origin of the New England Transcendentalism Philosophy;creatively forming a“Understanding-Reason-Practice-Development”philosophy thinking mode as an implicit logical structural guideline;analyzing and explaining the major works of Emerson and Thoreau in different periods in a horizontal and vertical way by close reading,comparative analysis and comprehensive analysis.Through the comparison between New England Transcendental Philosophy and Historical Materialism,we can see that Marxist philosophy has become the revolutionary proletarian ideological system due to its outstanding qualities,such as scientific,revolutionary,practical,people-oriented and developmental,while New England Transcendental Philosophy belongs to the bourgeois ideological system that has lost its revolutionary nature.There must be fundamental differences in principle between the two.Marx’s philosophical thought completely surpasses that of Emerson and Thoreau because it solves the main contradiction of the development of human society from its foundation.