Thesis--Wisconsin. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 259-263).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1965. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1909. / Published also without thesis note under title: Emerson; his contribution to literature. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. Also issued online.

This thesis is a reading of the role of the individual in the social philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Dewey. It seeks to reconstruct both philosophers as putting forth a philosophy of social individualism by putting the two in conversation with one another through the method of Hegelian dialectic. The line of influence from Emerson to Dewey is touched upon, and some time is spent comparing the two scholars in terms of how their philosophies are unique reactions to their experience of America and as Americans. A large part of the thesis is spent in defense of Emerson from contemporary readings that are found to not fully address the complexity of the philosopher, especially how he was reacting to his particular cultural situation.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis--University of Michigan. / Without thesis statement. Bibliography: p. [252]-256.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis explores Ralph Waldo Emerson’s philosophical becoming throughout decades of reflection and experience, particularly regarding death and slavery. Emerson was a buoyant writer and speaker, but the death of his five-year-old son and protégé, Waldo, challenged the father’s belief in Nature’s goodness and the reality of maintaining a tenaciously optimistic outlook. As he was grieving in the mid-1840s, slavery was threatening the Union, and Emerson was compelled to turn his attention to the subject of human bondage. He began his career indifferent to the plight of slaves, but as legislation about the issue brought it closer to his personal sphere, he was gradually yet firmly gripped by the tragedy of human bondage. These simultaneously existing spheres of sorrow – Waldo’s death and slavery – joined in refining Emerson’s personal philosophy toward greater utilitarian and humanitarian conduct. His letters, journals, essays, and lectures reflect the inward changes caused by outward events, and the conclusions herein are supported by modern grief studies as well as numerous philosophers, literary specialists, and historians.

Scholarship on Emerson to date has not considered Spinoza’s influence upon his thought. Indeed, from his lifetime until the twentieth century, Emerson’s friends and disciples engaged in a concerted cover-up because of Spinoza’s hated name. However, Emerson mentioned his respect and admiration of Spinoza in his journals, letters, lectures, and essays, and Emerson’s thought clearly shows an importation of ideas central to Spinoza’s system of metaphysics, ethics, and biblical hermeneutics. In this essay, I undertake a biographical and philosophical study in order to show the extent of Spinoza’s influence on Emerson and how this changes the traditional understanding of Emerson’s thought.