lecture 10 商务班

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,British and American Literature,Foreign Language School,Mojiao,2010-2011,Lecture 10 New England Transcendentalism and Ralph Waldo Emerson,Teaching procedures:,Transcendentalism,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Nature,Selected Readings of,American Scholar,Assignment for next week,1. Transcendentalism,1. What is transcendentalism?,2. The features of transcendentalism,3. How did it come into being?,1. Transcendentalism: definition,-Transcendentalism is the summit of American Romanticism.,-Transcendentalism was a philosophical and literary movement flourishing in New England around mid 19th century. The name as well as the ideas owed to Kant among the myriad sources. Transcending, means going beyond empiricism, and ascertaining a fundamental principle of human knowledge. As a reaction against 18th rationalism, against empiricism, and the confining religious orthodoxy of New England Calvinism, it was engraved with heavy romantic, mystic and individualistic marks with emphasis on the Spirit, or the,Oversoul, individualism and nature.,2. Transcendentalism: features,1. emphasis on spirit, or the,Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe. The,Oversoul,was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part.,2. Transcendentalism: features,2. the importance of individual( a reaction against the Calvinist concept and also a reaction against the process of dehumanization),3. offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. “Go back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence and youll become spiritually whole again.”,3. How did it come into being?,-foreign influences: philosophy from Germany and France. Oriental mysticism: Confucius,Mencius, and,Chuang,Tzu,Kant:,Critique of Pure Reason,-,domestic influence: heritage of American Puritanism,“有两种东西，我对它们的思考越是深沉和持久，它们在我心灵中唤起的惊奇和敬畏就会日新月异，不断增长，这就是我头上的星空和心中的道德定律。”它出自康德的,实践理性批判,最后一章，刻在康德的墓碑上。,康德的“三大批判”构成了他的伟大哲学体系，它们是：“纯粹理性批判”（,1781,年）、“实践理性批判”（,1788,年）和“判断力批判”（,1790,年）。,-“,纯粹理性批判”要回答的问题是：我们能知道什么？康德的回答是：我们只能知道,自然科学,让我们认识到的东西，哲学除了能帮助我们澄清使知识成为可能的必要条件，就没有什么更多的用处了，自从柏拉图以来的形而上学问题其实是无解的。,-,而康德,1788,年发表的“实践理性批判”要回答的问题是,伦理学,的问题：我们应该怎样做？简单地说，康德告诉我们说：我们要尽我们的义务。但什么叫“尽义务”？为了回答这一问题，康德提出了著名的“,(,绝对,),范畴律令,(,Kategorischer,Imperativ,)”,：“要这样做，永远使得你的意志的准则能够同时成为普遍制订法律的原则。”康德认为，人在道德上是自主的，人的行为虽然受客观因果的限制，但是人之所以成为人，就在于人有道德上的自由能力，能超越因果，有能力为自己的行为负责。,-“,判断力批判”要回答的问题是：我们可以抱有什么希望？康德给出的答案是：如果要真正能做到有道德，我就必须假设有上帝的存在，假设生命结束后并不是一切都结束了。“判断力批判”中，康德关心的问题还有人类精神活动的目的、意义和作用方式，包括人的,美学,鉴赏能力和幻想能力。,-Kant emphasized the moral reasoning power of human beings. Human beings, he argued, are independent moral agents with a wholly free will, capable of breaking moral law: “There is in man a power of self-determination, independent of any coercion through sensuous impulses.”,-Nature, Kant said, is a system of cause and effect, whereas moral choice is a matter of free will, with cause and effect absent. In making moral choices, in rising above mere instinct, human beings transcend the realm of nature and enter a realm of freedom that belongs exclusively to them as rational creatures.,2. Ralph Waldo Emerson,-the most eloquent,spokesman of New England Transcendentalism,3. Emersons,Nature,-the Bible of New England Transcendentalism,- “Standing on the bare ground, -my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, -all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.”,1. To have a direct relation with nature, with Gods divine creation, simply go out and look at the stars.,2. The mind must be open to the appearance of nature in order to achieve true wisdom.,3. The mind that is truly open to natures own truth is poetic. There is a difference between the poet and the engineer. The purpose or end of nature for the engineer or practical business person is that nature is a source of raw materials for human use; the purpose or end of nature for the poet is that nature is a beautiful order. The engineer sees the part; the poet sees the whole.,Key notes from,Nature:,Key notes from,Nature:,4. Because most of us look at nature only with our own desires in mind, we do not really see nature. We need to look at nature as if we were little children, without adult cares and needs. Adults are morally corrupt; children are innocent and able to have a direct relation with Gods design. But an adult can be childlike if he or she is virtuous:,Key notes from,Nature:,“The love of nature is he whose inward and outward sensed are still truly adjusted to each other.” Nature arouses all the emotions in us, because there is something emotional in nature. The infinity of nature absorbs the finiteness of the human self. The finite self ascents to the divine perspective of God. In the wilderness there is something that is as beautiful as humanity. Emersons idea of the self in wilderness as an all-seeing spectator is very different from Thoreaus idea. For Thoreau, the self in wilderness is active.,5. There is a relation of correspondence or analogy between human being and all natural beings: for instance, there is a spiritual relation between people and plants, which also flourished in the Renaissance.,6. What is essential is to be in harmony with nature. But to be in harmony with nature is to be in harmony with Gods design; it is to be morally virtuous. Our relation with nature is emotional and spiritual: “Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” We project our emotion into nature, and nature reflects them back to us. Nature is a mirror of the moral state of the soul.,1837,年,8,月,31,日，爱默生在美国大学生联谊会上以,论美国学者,为题发表演讲，抨击美国社会中灵魂从属于金钱的拜金主义和资本主义的劳动分工使人异化为物的现象，强调人的价值；他提出学者的任务是自由而勇敢地从表相中揭示真实，以鼓舞人、提高人和引导人；他号召发扬民族自尊心，反对一味追随外国学说。这一演讲轰动一时，对美国民族文化的兴起产生了巨大影响，被誉为是美国“思想上的独立宣言”。,4. American Scholar,5. Assignment for next week:,Read Hawthornes,The Ministers Black Veil,and prepare for the following questions:,1. What does the veil symbolize? Why does he decide to wear it?,2. Has Hooper sinned so that he deserves his lifelong isolation, or is he a saint who gives up everything to devote his life to the ministry?,3. Is Hooper guilty not of some secret sin, but of pride, believing that he is too good to accept even minor failing in himself?,4. Is Hawthorne making a reference to the fact that the veil obscured Hoopers face from view as he read the Bible?,5. Whats Hoopers view of life? Was he a happy person when he died?,6. Would you argue for or against the idea that all men sinners.,