Transcendentalism vs. Anti-Transcendentalism Essay Sample

The debate between transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism has been fought for decades, each prompting philosophies with contradicting views. The former, supported by renowned philosophers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thoreau, primarily promotes the notion that human nature is inherently positive because of its connection to nature. The latter, on the other hand, emphasizes that humans are, in fact, not inherently good, and they need structure and guidance in order to place them on the right path. This anti-transcendentalist view is emphasized in the essay Against Nature by Joyce Carol Oats, her, along with writers Nathanial Hawthorne and Herman Melville, refute the claims that nature and humans are bound together, and rather reiterate the disconnectedness of the two. Moreover, the idea of conformity, one heavily advocated by anti-transcendentalists, supports the inevitability of human flaw and the need for structure to counter this. Issues in society today often mirror the debates regarding morality that philosophers have long discussed. This idea is only reinforced when one views a dominant topic of modern society: Social Media. Social Media has been the object of concern in the long drawn argument between the importance of individual freedom as contrasted between the structure needed in filtering content for the collective good. In her essay, Against Nature, Joyce Carol Oates claims that the destructive nature of humans requires structure, however this claim is only true to a certain extent as the importance associated with the individual will is significant to ensuring an inclusive and functioning society, demonstrating the necessity of a proper balance between the transcendentalist ideology of independence and the anti-transcendentalist emphasis on structure, thereby illustrating the incorrect nature of Joyce Carol Oates assertion that the Transcendentalist vision is irrelevant in today’s society. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self Reliance'' emphasizes the importance of pursuing one’s own thoughts and intuitions, an important action which allows for the fostering of new ideas and the advancement of society. In his essay, Emerson insists that one must resist the pressures to conform as society would be better served by practicing responsible individualism. Individual ideas incite change and provide society with a way to move forward towards betterment. This idea is only reinforced when observing Martin Luther King Jr's “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” In this world-renowned essay, King discusses the imperativeness of civil disobedience, an action taken because of the individual will of those who opposed the majority, and his reasons behind doing this. Further on, this change that he, amongst many others, desired was enacted. A change that was later referenced as revolutionary and contributed to the framework of the foundation of democracy. Although in the past, this event illustrates the importance of individual will in modern society as well. Rather than civil disobedience, however, in modern society the majority advocates for change on social media. Social media provides an outlet for people to not only advocate and fight for what they believe in but to express their original ideas. In Self Reliance, Emerson stresses the fact that one should trust themselves above all others and that only this will result in the originality of thought and the advocacy for change, as portrayed by Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreaou’s civil disobedience. Emerson asserts that with the oppression of individuals will come the lack of advancement in society, as not only the creation of new ideas will be inhibited, but the voices for progressive change will be silenced. The allowance of both the expression of individual will and the development of advanced concepts is a vital avenue in progressing society, an idea consistently proved in the past and will continue to be proven in modern society. 

Human nature, however, as demonstrated throughout the history books, is often destructive and deceptive, introducing the extent of the accuracy in which Joyce Carol Oates views human nature and its need for structure. In her essay, Against Nature, Joyce Carol Oates discusses the negative parts of nature that she describes as often overlooked. When observed with further detail, the discussion of nature is seen to allude to human nature, demonstrating Oates’ belief in the inherently destructive nature of humans. Without structure, the inevitably flawed nature that each person is born with would create chaos. In order to prevent this mayhem from ensuing, the anti-transcendentalist ideology encourages, or rather, advocates for social conformity. In direct contrast with the transcendentalist belief,  more specifically Ralph Waldo Emerson, this philosophy focuses on the negative aspects associated with allowing an individual the freedom; rather than encouraging the development of society, the inevitable cataclysmic human nature will consume the individual and result in a societal or individual decline. Nathanial Hawthorne, a well-known anti-transcendentalist, demonstrates this principle in his novel The Scarlet Letter in which he negatively comments on his main character, Hester Prynne’s, refusal to re-integrate herself with her community when given the chance. QUOTE FROM NOVEL. The evidence from the novel reveals his anti-transcendentalist belief, consistent with Oates’ essay, as he utilizes….Indeed The Scarlet Letter is a fiction novel written in the 19th century, why is it relevant in today’s society one may ask? This question can be answered with the simple reference to a staple of the lives of this generation: Social Media. Social media presents a number of dangers that entirely emulate the destructive nature of humanity first-hand: harassment, racism, bigotry, all encompassed by cyber-bullying. This inherent flaw of human nature is only emphasized when viewing these social media platforms, demonstrating the need for regulations against this ruinous human behavior. Thereby proving the need for structure, in this case regulations, the limit these innate negative instincts. The anti-transcendentalist ideology, supported by both Against Nature by Joyce Carol Oates and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the negative aspects of human nature, one that is often glorified by the public, and the need for regulation in place to inhibit this destructiveness from harming others and declining society.