Transcendentalism: A Philosophical Movement

Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820’s and 1830’s in the eastern region of the United States. The movement was a reaction to the protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality. There were three main philosophers that spread the word of transcendentalism across the United States. These three men were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. The views of these men spread quickly and were adopted by many people. These views set the foundation for transcendentalism and during times of civil rights, were strongly spoken by people such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. Self-Reliance was the idea proposed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1840’s that tried to …show more content…
Civil disobedience means to not conform to the rules of society and what other people believe. This could be interpreted as breaking the law in some circumstances and could result in legal problems for the person committing the act of being disobedient. Being civil disobedient doesn’t mean to not follow the laws it just means that if you believe in something strong enough then stand up for it. Civil disobedience isn’t something a person can say they are doing just to break laws they still need to live within the laws established by the …show more content…
He is a former student at Welton and knows the strict policies enforced within the school but has a different idea in mind when he is teaching. Keating wants his students to think differently about the world around them and interpret their books in a whole new way. At first these students are shocked at how laid back and different Keating was and how different his lessons were from other teachers they had in the past. They slowly begin to realize that Keating has a good point and a very valuable lesson to learn. A saying that Keating stressed to his students was “Carpe Diem” which meant to ultimately seize the day and make the most of the present time they have. This saying slowly brought the students out of their comfort zone and they began to realize that all rules do not need to be followed if they did not believe in them. The students learned that just because a book says something, it doesn’t mean they have to believe it. Keating was thought of as a leader by these students and they started learning to be themselves from his teachings and really thought about what kind of person they wanted to be. One student took the views and beliefs very strongly and it ended up leading to him taking his life. The student believed that the views of his fathers were very different than the views of himself and he wanted to send a message. He