Philosophers and literary critics have recognized for many years the profound recalcitrance of Emerson's thought to any kind of systematic formulation. It is the contention of this thesis that this recalcitrance is one of the main pointers to the nature of his philosophy, which is here described as "process" philosophy. All attempts to reduce Emerson's thought to a static system with definable terms is doomed from the beginning, since Emerson's universe was dynamic, fluid, processive, and therefore fundamentally indefinable. Chapter I ("Emerson's Quarrel with the Eighteenth Century") seeks to place Emerson within the Romantic tradition, emphasizing his reaction against the mechanical philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment. The image of the Great Chain of Being is seen as typical of this philosophy, and Swedenborg's theory of "correspondence" is seen as workable only within this context. Emerson's philosophy, however, was organic and processive, and therefore beyond the explanatory power of "correspondence." Chapter II ("Nature as Process") works out Emerson's understanding of Nature as dynamic and processive. Nature, for him was a system of interaction, a processive flow of objects into and out of themselves. Moreover, Emerson saw material reality as an "emanation" of the Divine, a process of spirit manifesting itself in material forms. At the same time, he saw Nature as "evolving" from material forms towards higher levels of spirit. Emerson managed to hold both views at once, seeing "emanation" and "evolution" as reciprocal transactions, so that the deevelopment (or un-folding) of the universe was simultaneously evolution and emanation. Chapter III ("The Process of the Soul") concentrates on Emerson's unifying center, the Soul. He thought that the Soul was the center of a web of interaction, a process or activity in which the world became unified through the mind and eye of man. Moreover, the Soul for Emerson was both a transaction with the divine Over-Soul and a dynamic process by which the seer and the thing seen, the subjective self and the objective world, are unified in a bilateral transaction. Chapter IV ("The Process of Art") applies Emerson's philosophy of process to one (of several) fields of human activity, artistic creation. Emerson understood art as activated initially by inspiration, a flowing of the Divine into man; and he understood art to be a kind of incarnation, an embodiment of spirit in matter, idea in form. Moreover, he maintained that beauty consisted of dynamic form, that is, form capturing the processive or fluid quality of life and nature. Furthermore, the appreciative process consisted of an observer investing artistic form with his own imaginative spirit. The final chapter ("Emerson and the Twentieth Century") attempts to relate Emerson's philosophy specifically and Romantic thought generally to such twentieth-century developments as relativity, emergent evolution, biological ecology, and transactional psychology. It becomes apparent that Emerson has numerous analogues in modern thought and that he was very close indeed to processive, non-categorical, descriptive approaches to reality and man's place in it. Because Emerson substituted a descriptive, transactional approach to reality rather than an explanatory, static approach, he ultimately moved beyond abstract philosophical speculation into pragmatic humanism. His transcendentalism was meaningful in terms of life and activity in the concrete situation. His processive descriptions ultimately invested the universe with life and incarnated man with the divine, allowing man to assume his central place in the universe. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1954 B34 / Master of Science

No description available.

Egerton Ryerson is remembered today mainly as an educational reformer and religious leader. His work in connection with the public library movement in Ontario has received little attention. Yet Ryerson himself attached great importance to the provision of free libraries for the general public, as an extension and completion of the school system. His object was to ensure that all citizens, both young and old, would be able to enjoy the fruits of education. A study of the library system introduced by Ryerson is needed to shed light on a neglected aspect of his career. At the same time, it fills a gap by furnishing a connected account of public library history in Ontario from 1844 to 1876. For source material, the chief documentary items are found in various works edited by J.G. Hodgins. Ryerson's own Annual Reports provide an abundance of valuable information. A search of newspapers and periodicals of the period has revealed some pertinent articles, which have been particularly useful in gauging the reaction in Ryerson's contemporaries to his library scheme. The scheme was first formulated by Ryerson in his 1846 Report, two years after he became Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada. It was given government approval in 1850. School trustees and municipal councils were authorized to start libraries in their communities, and money could be raised for the purpose by an assessment on property. Many of the libraries were placed in school buildings, though they were intended to be used by the adult population of the surrounding district as well as by the students. Local initiative was emphasized. Once a library became established, a government grant was available for the purchase of books, on a matching basis with funds raised locally. All the books had to be selected from a list of authorized publications compiled and annotated by Ryerson, known as the General Catalogue. They were supplied at cost price from a central Depository in Toronto. Most of them came from British and American publishing firms. For about twenty years, the libraries grew and flourished. In I850 free public library service was unknown in Upper Canada. By 1870 there were over a thousand libraries circulating a quarter of a million volumes. The success of the scheme was partly due to the energetic backing Ryerson gave it. After his retirement in 1876, the libraries declined rapidly. Government support was withdrawn, and given instead to the libraries of the Mechanics' Institutes. Of all Ryerson's enterprises, this was one of the few that did not survive. Its collapse was due partly to dissatisfaction with the material available in the General Catalogue, and partly to public apathy. There was also strong opposition from Canadian publishers, who resented the Department of Education buying books in bulk from foreign sources. Even though the libraries disappeared, Ryerson's efforts had not been wasted. During his lifetime, the project filled an important need, and much praise was accorded to it at all levels of society. It was the first real attempt in Canada to extend free library service to the whole population. Though changed in direction during the final quarter of the nineteenth century, the movement started by Ryerson continued to advance at a steady pace through the work of the Mechanics' Institutes. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

No description available.

This thesis will reveal a political dimension to Emerson's work, situating itself in the current scholarly movement to analyze Emerson from a different angle. Scholars have long heralded Emerson as a staunch individualist or transcendentalist, yet there has been a recent shift in literary studies to consider him from a social or political perspective. Emerson's emphasis on the individual does not diminish in any of the three essays that I have selected; however, he strongly urges every individual to contribute towards the amelioration of society. He also believes that an individual person has enormous potential to cause both great improvement and great harm, which is why a wise man or scholar is a paramount component to any society. Moreover, this thesis addresses topics that are particularly useful today, as Emerson's words are just as relevant to the political situation in the world now as they were in the 19th century. / by Elizabeth Gillespie. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This thesis will be an attempt to gather together the important ideas set forth in Whitman's early writing which are to be found also in Emerson's lectures, essays, and poems written before 1855. It will attempt to show what Whitman might have gained from Emerson if he had had no other source, and if a creative intellect had not the power of originating its own ideas.

Emerson frequently illustrates his philosophy with complementary scientific examples that clarify his ideas. This study examines Emerson's enumeration of the laws and powers of Intellect in conjunction with twentieth-century science, illustrating his ideas in the method he often employs. The physiological model of the two hemispheres of the brain parallels the two intelligences Emerson ascribes to man--understanding and reason. Hemispheric theories describe an analogue to the Emersonian epiphany-- hemispheric integration--and help to distinguish the epiphany from other experiences associated with altered states of consciousness. Quantum physics and relativity theory illustrate the vision of the unity of nature perceived during the epiphany. Using modern science to illustrate Emerson's ideas in this way makes us apprentice to a rhetorical technique used and advocated by him.

Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Filosofía / El presente trabajo contempla el análisis comparado del rol de los estudios históricos en la conformación del individuo en ambos autores. Tanto Emerson como Nietzsche están en contra de una construcción del pasado que disminuya el valor del presente, sin embargo, en Nietzsche la historia no solo forma parte de la constitución del individuo, sino además una carga condicionante que no puede ser dejada de lado. La tesis es que ha sido esta preocupación por la historia la que hace que el pensamiento de Nietzsche pierda el carácter democrático y progresista que caracteriza al pensamiento de Emerson. Así, mientras el norteamericano dice que todos los seres humanos son la expresión de un alma común u oversoul, que puede ser entendida de manera casi panteísta, Nietzsche reserva las posibilidades de Self Reliance, es decir, de autoconfianza y autorrealización –usando un lenguaje más moderno- solo a los hombres superiores, de entre quienes deberá surgir el superhombre. La tesis sostiene que es la profundidad con la que Nietzsche considera la historia y la cultura lo que hace que entre estos autores surja esta diferencia fundamental.

This dissertation comparatively analyzes the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a nineteenth century American, and Jorge Luis Borges, a twentieth-century Argentinian, within the context of human rights. Through their writings, both Emerson and Borges provided a voice to the voiceless by addressing the most egregious violations of human rights during their respective days: For Emerson, the most virulent social ill was slavery; for Borges, it was fascism. While Emerson and Borges differ in several ways, they are remarkably similar in their emphasis of natural laws and natural rights, notably egalitarianism and liberty, which underpin humanity and comprise an integral aspect of civilization. By counteracting the antithesis of civilization, barbarism, the works of Emerson and Borges ultimately embody the tenets that would ultimately constitute The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thus, Emerson and Borges are indelibly linked through serving as harbingers of human rights. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection