This course traces the historical, philosophical, and political formation of the Transcendentalist movement as it developed in New England intellectual circles from the early 1830s to the early 1850s. We will approach American Transcendentalism by following three interrelated historical trajectories: first, the Transcendentalists’ reception of early Romantic European philosophies and aesthetics, second, theological and philosophical controversies within the Unitarian clergy that informed the Transcendentalists’ writings, and, third, secular reform movements of the 1840s and 1850s (e.g. abolitionism, women’s education, new social community models, proletarianism). We will also spend some time discussing the reception of Transcendentalism in the 20th century, both inside the academy (e.g. Ecocriticism, Deconstruction, Marxism) and outside of it (e.g. the Beats, New Age/Hippie Culture).
Our readings will include European philosophers and cultural critics of the 18th and early 19th century (e.g. Baumgarten, Winckelmann, Kant, Coleridge, Schiller), works by iconic (Transcendentalist) intellectuals of the antebellum period, e.g. Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and a bunch of writers and political reformers who may perhaps not be as well known, whose works, however, were nonetheless central to the Transcendentalist movement (e.g. Channing, Peabody, Cranch, Parker, Brownson).

Course Requirements: 15-20 pp research paper, a short presentation on a scholarly essay, 3 short position papers.