Rationalism Vs Transcendentalism

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Transcendentalist think of truth as intuitive. This means that they find truth in things without have solid evidence or reasoning behind it. They believe that if it is truth to them then it must be true because truth lies from within. Humans will interpret the truth how each individual sees it in there out intuition. Humans will know what it the truth because they examine it themselves and arrive at their own opinion of truth. Truth lies within each individual in society and can be found through their own thoughts. In Margaret Fuller’s piece “The Great Lawsuit” she states, “Here as elsewhere the gain of creation consist always in the growth of individual minds (748)”. This example shows how much they relied on own individual thoughts and creation. Transcendentalist have a reaction against the rationalistic ideas. Rationalism showed that truth can be found with reason but Transcendentalist saw it within the individual. Each individual interprets the …show more content…
They will think they know inside what the truth is and follow what they think. There will be less followers of institutions on this type of society because everybody is thinking individualistically. This change of thought can cause many aspects in a person life to change. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s piece “Self –Reliance” he states, “It is easy to see that a greater self-reliance, a new respect for the divinity in man, must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men; in their religion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their association; in their property; in their speculative views (281)”. This example shows you just how many aspects of a person’s life it can change. This would mean a huge shift in society in the way people think and the way people in society act. Society would see the impact of individual creation and interpretations of what was once

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