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- Implications for Debate
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- BEAUTY IS THE HIGHEST VALUE
Objections to EmersonAs already noted, critics fault Emerson on two levels: Inconsistency and lack of coherent foundation: Emerson was as much a mystic and poet as he was a philosopher. Some critics, George Santayana among them, doubt that it’s even proper to call Emerson a philosopher. Those arguing against Emerson can gain a great deal of ground by citing the numerous instances where his thoughts lead to mystical pronouncements instead of solid and warranted conclusions. Obsession with power: As much as Emerson extolled the sins of slavery and patriarchy, he also extolled the virtues of capitalism, the necessity of self-reliance, and the power of individual action. This is another instance of the inconsistency cited earlier, but it also reflects Emerson’s desire to be a truly “American” thinker at a time when Americans were confronting and conquering “the frontier.” The problem is that Emerson never really comes to terms with how his pronouncements on power (“Life is a search after power,” he declared) problematized his political stance against oppression. Implications for DebateFirst, Emerson’s philosophy strongly supports civil disobedience and the refusal to follow unjust laws. This is the most well-known of Emerson’s philosophies, and it inspired Henry David Thoreau’s entire essay “Civil Disobedience.” Emerson’s embrace of civil disobedience comes from two areas of his philosophy: anti-majoritarianism, and the notion of morality transcending states and governments Second, Emerson’s philosophy makes a very optimistic statement about human nature. Insofar as human beings embrace their connection to transcendent, divine virtue (which Emerson also calls “beauty”), they will perform virtuously. This is true of every human being. In this way, Emerson is part Plato (humans must understand the transcendent world in order to be good) and part Aristotle (humans must actually practice virtuous behavior to be in tune with the divine). Although critics accuse Emerson of justifying evil, exploitative systems (such as ruthless capitalism), it may be reasonably replied that Emerson simply believes seemingly miserable situations (such as poverty) will ultimately culminate in human growth and transcendence. In this way, Emerson is like John Stuart Mill (who believed capitalism would evolve into a just economic system) or G.W.F. Hegel (who believed all bad states of affairs would transcend into good things). Third, Emerson takes virtuous behavior to be among the highest ethical goods, because it is a reflection of transcendent beauty and goodness. This may be among Emerson’s most “Platonic” philosophical notions. It serves as an intrinsic justification for moral behavior. It may even be an alternative to deontological or utilitarian modes of ethics. These ethical codes arguably allow one to escape from various moral responsibilities by assigning greater and lesser values to respective moral commands. For example, deontological ethics mandates the disregard of consequences, while utilitarian ethics mandates an exclusive focus on consequences. Transcendentalist ethics, on the other hand, would probably call for a unity of intentions and consequences, since all phenomena and actions are linked in some way. Debaters interested in incorporating Emerson into their arguments should be cautioned that he is far from a systematic thinker. As noted above, his stance often seems anti-foundationalist and anti-analytic, meaning that there will be a certain awkwardness involved in using his ideas for the sometimes-binaristic world of debate. However, Emerson’s eloquence, his optimism about humanity and democracy, and his powerful statements against human bondage and majoritarianism, compensate for his imperfect attempt to do justice to the paradoxical nature of human existence. BIBLIOGRAPHYAllen, Gay Wilson. RALPH WALDO EMERSON: A BIOGRAPHY (New York: Viking Press, 1981). Emerson, Ralph Waldo. A YANKEE IN CANADA, WITH ANTI-SLAVERY AND REFORM PAPERS (Boston, Ticknor and Fields, 1866). Emerson, Ralph Waldo. EMERSON ON EDUCATION: SELECTIONS (New York: Teachers College Press, 1966). Emerson, Ralph Waldo. FORTUNE OF THE REPUBLIC (Boston: Hougton, Osgood and Company, 1878). Emerson, Ralph Waldo. INDIAN SUPERSTITION (Hanover, N.H.: Friends of the Dartmouth Library, 1954). Emerson, Ralph Waldo. NAPOLEAN, OR THE MAN OF THE WORLD (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1947) Emerson, Ralph Waldo. NATURAL HISTORY OF INTELLECT, AND OTHER PAPERS (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1900). Emerson, Ralph Waldo. THE EARLY LECTURES OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959). Emerson, Ralph Waldo. THE CONDUCT OF LIFE: NINE ESSAYS ON FATE, POWER, WEALTH (New York: Scott-Thaw, 1903). Gougeon, Len and Myerson, Joel, eds. EMERSON’S ANTISLAVERY WRITINGS (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995). Haight, Gordon Sherman, ed. THE BEST OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON: ESSAYS, POEMS, ADDRESSES (New York: W. J. Black, 1941). Huggard, William Allen. EMERSON AND THE PROBLEM OF WAR AND PEACE (Iowa City: The University Press, 1938). Konvitz, Milton R. and Whicher, Stephen E., eds. EMERSON: A COLLECTION OF CRITICAL ESSAYS (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1978). McGiffert, Arthur Cushman Jr., ed. YOUNG EMERSON SPEAKS: UNPUBLISHED DISCOURSES ON MANY SUBJECTS (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1968). Porte, Joel. REPRESENTATIVE MAN: RALPH WALDO EMERSON IN HIS TIME (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). Robinson, David. APOSTLE OF CULTURE: EMERSON AS PREACHER AND LECTURER (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982). Sealts Jr., Merton M. and Ferguson, Alfred R., eds. EMERSON’S NATURE: ORIGIN, GROWTH, MEANING (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1969). Smith, Susan Sutton, ed. THE TOPICAL NOTEBOOKS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1990) BEAUTY IS THE HIGHEST VALUE1. BEAUTY IS THE ULTIMATE END OF THE UNIVERSE AND ALL ACTIVITY Ralph Waldo Emerson, American transcendentalist philosopher, EMERSON ON TRANSCENDENTALISM, 1986, p. 15. The world thus exists to the soul to satisfy the desire of beauty. This element I call an ultimate end. No reason can be asked or given why the soul seeks beauty. Beauty, in its largest and profoundest sense, is one expression for the universe. God is the all-fair. Truth, and goodness, and beauty, are but different faces of the same All. 2. VIRTUOUS ACTS ARE BEAUTIFUL AND EXPRESSES THE RATIONALITY OF THE UNIVERSE Ralph Waldo Emerson, American transcendentalist philosopher, EMERSON ON TRANSCENDENTALISM, 1986, p. 12. The presence of a higher, namely, of the spiritual element is essential to its perfection. The high and divine beauty which can be loved without effeminacy, is that which is found in combination with the human will. Beauty is the mark God sets upon virtue. Every natural action is graceful. Every heroic act is also decent, and causes the place and the bystanders to shine. We are taught by great actions that the universe is the property of every individual in it. Every rational creature has all nature for his dowry and estate. It is his, if he will. He may divest himself of it; he may creep into a corner, and abdicate his kingdom, as most men do, but he is entitled to the world by his constitution.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American transcendentalist philosopher, EMERSON’S PROSE AND POETRY, 2000, p. 15. One measure of a man’s character is his effect upon his fellow-men. And any one who will steadily observe his own experience will I think become convinced, that every false word he has uttered, that it to say, every departure from his own convictions, out of deference to others has been a sacrifice of a certain amount of his power over other men. For every man knows whether he has been accustomed to receive truth or falsehood—valuable opinions or foolish talking—from his brother, and this knowledge must inevitably determine his respect. 2. VIRTUOUS ACTS PLACE US IN UNISON WITH THE POWER OF NATURE Ralph Waldo Emerson, American transcendentalist philosopher, EMERSON ON TRANSCENDENTALISM, 1986, p. 13. In private places, among sordid objects, an act of truth or heroism seems at once to draw to itself the sky as its temple, the sun as its candle. Nature stretches out her arms to embrace man, only let his thoughts be of equal greatness. Willingly does she follow his steps with the rose and the violet, and bend her lines of grandeur and grace to the decoration of her darling child. Only let his thoughts be of equal scope, and the frame will suit the picture. A virtuous man is in unison with her works, and makes the central figure of the visible sphere. Homer, Pindar, Socrates, Phocion, associate themselves fitly in our memory with the geography and climate of Greece. The visible heavens and earth sympathize with Jesus. And in common life whosoever has seen a person of powerful character and happy genius will have remarked how easily he took all things along with him,--the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.
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