Emerson is America’s great Transcendental philosopher of nature. I’m not a nature lover, however. I don’t think more truths are to be had walking through a forest than walking down a city street. I don’t think nature is an unambiguous good, extolling lessons of virtue and justice. Nature, to me, is

作品集，整本书非常长：）爱默生是超验主义（强调人的主观能动性）和个人自由主义的代表人物。他对自己的总结是“In all my lectures, I have taught one doctrine, namely, the infinitude of the private man.”他相信万事万物皆有神性。所有的作品其实都是围绕着”Human” and “Nature”两大主题。

“There is throughout nature something mocking, something that leads us on and on, but arrives nowhere, keep

I enjoyed returning to Emerson, in part because he was one of those authors that I ran into, in tiny doses, in high school and LOVED. So, coming back to him as an adult was inevitable and rewarding.

And challenging: 19th century philosophical prose is dense, and so progress was slow. But some of thes

Turns out Emerson is remembered for his best work. The collected work is interesting because it reveals more of the mind behind the essays, but the essays themselves feel more like a product of their time than bolts of genuine, timeless insight like his best pieces. He raises interesting questions a

“Our age is retrospective,” wrote Emerson. Emerson fought for individuals to trust the divine within and stop relying on past individuals to tell us what to do. “Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst...They are for nothing but to inspire.” Fascinating read. I think I’m a T

In alluding just now to our system of education, I spoke of the deadness of its details. But it is open to graver criticism than the palsy of its members: it is a system of despair. The disease with which the human mind now labors, is want of faith. Men do not believe in a power of education. We do