Ralph Waldo Emerson: (1803-1882) The American Scholar
Question: What is the main idea of the American Scholar?
Or, The American Scholar Summary and Study Guide.
Or, The American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson: Summary.
Context of the Address
"The American Scholar" is one of the famous essays Emerson. He delivered this as a lecture to the Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard College, on 31 August 1837. It is regarded as “the first clarion of an American literary renaissance”. It embodies Emerson's philosophy of what an American Scholar's profession should be like: the philosophy of One Man divided into many with different duties and functions.
Philosophy of one Man Divided into Many
First of all, he gives his philosophy of One Man, derived from an old fable. One Man is "present to all particular men only partially or through one faculty.” We must take the whole society to find the whole man. One Man is all men—a farmer, a professor, an engineer, and so on. In the social state, each man performs his particular function “Parcelled” out to him. But unfortunately, the original unit, One Man, the fountain of power, has been distributed to the innumerable men in such a manner that it is “spilled into drops and cannot be gathered.”
The members of society have suffered amputation from the trunk-One Man. And each part of One Man is walking about like a monster- a good finger, a neck, stomach, but never a full man. Man changed into a thing, or men are changed into mere things. A man following a particular profession- a tradesman, a sailor, etc. is Id of the true dignity of Man but has been changed into a mere inert material-a sailor into a mere machine.
The idea of Man Thinking
In this context of the social state, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the degenerate state of society, he is a victim of the social state and tends to become a mere thinker or worse, mimic other men's thinking. In the right state, he is Man Thinking, catering original thinking beneficial to mankind. Every man is a student, and the true scholar is the only true master, lest he may err and may forfeit his privilege. So we should see him in his school, and consider him as to the main influences he receives.
Nature's Influence upon the Scholar
The influences of Nature upon the scholar are of the first and foremost importance. He studies the phenomena of Nature and realizes that there is never a beginning, never an end, to the inexplicable continuity of the web of God. It is always a circular power returning into itself. It resembles the scholar's own spirit, without beginning, without end, so entire, so boundless. A young mind first thinks that everything is individual. But gradually he joins things-two things first, then thousands, and discovers that all things have the same nature, that there is essential unity behind the apparent diversity of things. There is a law that unifies all the varied phenomena of things. There is a law also of the human mind. The scholar will realize that he and all things proceed from one root. The root is the soul of his soul. His study of Nature will open before him the prospect of an ever-expanding knowledge. Nature is the opposite of his soul answering to it part for part. Nature's laws are the laws of his own mind. Nature then becomes to him the measure of his attainments. So much of nature as he is ignorant of, so much of his own mind does he not yet possess. Ultimately the ancient precept, know thyself” and the modern precept “study nature” become one maxim.
Influence of the Mind of the Past
Books are the best type of influence of the past. The scholar of the first age studied the world around him, imposed his own thoughts upon it, and formed his own philosophy that may be called truth. But the amount of the validity of the truth depended upon the depth of the mind from which it came.
Books Cannot Give Truths for all Ages
The truths that are the essence of the knowledge of the scholar of one generation cannot be the truths for all future generations. At best, the books of one generation can be relevant for the next generation. "Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding”. Even the accepted master-minds of the past like Cicero, Locke, and Bacon may not be acceptable to the present motion Books of the past are accepted as immutable truths only by Ser sluggish minds, by the bookworms, not by Man Thinking.
Proper use of Books
“Books are the best of things well used; abused, among the worst”. Books should be used only for inspiration, not for anything else. The active soul is the most valuable thing, but it may lie dormant in a man. It sees absolute truth, utters truth, or creates. It is genius. It looks forward, not backward. Books cannot pin it down. But a genius should not exert over-influence, as Shakespeare has done.
Books for the Man Thinking
The right way of reading is that it must be subordinated. Man Thinking must not be subdued by his instruments, the books. Books are only “the scholar's idle times”. He should read God directly, instead of wasting his precious time in other men's transcripts of their readings-the books.
No doubt we derive pleasure from reading the great authors of the past.-Chaucer, Marvell, or Dryden-because they give us the feeling that our mind is identical with theirs. They have thought out what we might have thought ourselves. But that belongs in the philosophical doctrine of the pre-established harmony.
Selection and Rejection From Books
Great and heroic men have existed who had information only from the books. But reading and writing should be creative. When the mind is inspired by labor and invention the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion. Every sentence appears significant, and the sense seems to be as broad as the world. But the author's real vision of truth must have been very short, so his record of it. While reading great authors like Plato or Shakespeare a discerning mind will accept only the best part, only the authentic utterances. He rejects all the rest.
Indispensable Reading
Here is one indispensable reading for a wise man - history and Science. Colleges have their indispensable duty-to create, not to drill they should gather from far every ray of various genius to their hospitable halls, and by the concentrated fires, set the hearts of their youth on flame.
A Scholar is not a Recluse but A Man of Action
There is a notion that a scholar should be a recluse, a valetudinarian, unfit for any handiwork or public labor. “As far as this is true of the studious classes, it is not just and wise.” Action is subordinate to a scholar, but it is essential. Without action, he is not yet a man. There can be no scholar without a heroic mind. The transition of thought from the unconscious to the conscious is action. The world- the shadow of the soul, or other me, lies around. The scholar becomes actively involved in the world. He knows as much of himself as he knows of the world. "Only so much do I know as I have lived." Action is the raw material out of which the intellect molds her splendid products. The actions and events of our childhood are matters of calmest observations, as they lie like fair pictures in the air. But one recent action, though we do not feel or know it, is yet a part of our life. It lies like a grub for some time, but suddenly it unfurls beautiful wings and is an angel of wisdom.
Fit Actions Give the Richest Return of Wisdom, and Are of Great Value
Fit actions give the richest wisdom. They give the scholar his necessary vocabulary. "Life is one dictionary”. Actions give us a language by which to illustrate and embody our perceptions. We can know about a speaker, about how much he has already lived from the poverty or splendor of his speech. Action is the way to know grammar.
Action is a Resource
The final value of action is that it is a resource. The great principle of undulation in nature the inspiring and exposing of the breath, the ebb and flow of the sea, etc. is known as polarity. It is the law of nature, and so of spirit.
The mind now thinks, now acts, and each fit one reproduces the other. When thoughts are exhausted, one has always the resource to live in action.
A great soul will be strong to live, and strong to think. If he lacks an organ or medium to impart his truths, he can still fall back on this elemental force of living them.
Duties of the American Scholar
The duties of the American Scholar are such as become Man Thinking. He should cheer, raise and guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances. He goes through a long period studying the human mind. He relinquishes display and immediate fame and is ready to accept poverty and solitude. He is to find consolation in exercising the highest function of human nature. He is the world's eye and heart. He resists the vulgar prosperity that retrogrades ever to barbarism, by preserving and communicating heroic sentiments, noble biographies, melodious verse, and the conclusions of history. He should hear and promulgate the verdict of Reason on the passing men and events of today.
He Should have Self-Confidence
The scholar should have full confidence in himself. He does not heed to popular opinion. He believes that he knows the world properly and he will not be carried away from his convictions by mere popular propaganda. He learns that in going down into the secrets of his own mind he has descended into the secrets of all minds. He learns that he who has mastered any law in his private thought is master to that extent of all men. The deeper he dives into his most private and secret presentiment, the more acceptable he becomes to the people.
He Should be Free and Brave
Self-trust embraces all other virtues. The scholar should be free and brave. Fear springs from ignorance. He is brave and puts fear behind him. He should not feel that he is one of the protected class, and flees away from danger. He faces danger like a brave man. He investigates the nature of the danger and controls it.
“Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind”. They are the kings of the world who color the world with their own thought. What they do is the apple which the ages have desired to pluck. It is ripe now and invites the nations to the harvest.
The reason is the basis of such self-trust, a reason which is deeper than can be fathomed, and darker than can be enlightened.
He Should Spread the Idea of One Man-The Idea of Culture
Man is one but men have wronged themselves by basing the light that can lead him back to his prerogatives. “Men in history, men in the world of today, are bugs, are spawn, and are called the mass,' and the herd”. Men have worshipped one man, and so in a century, in a
millennium, we have got one or two men. All the rest find in them their hero or poet and worship them, let them grow. They cast the dignity of man from their down trod selves upon the shoulders of a hero. They will perish to add one drop of blood to make that great heart (hero) beat. He lives for them and they live in him. They very naturally seek money or power. The scholar should wake them, and they shall quit the false good, and leap to the true, and can
governments to clerks and desks. This revolution can be brought about by the domestication of the idea of culture. The upbuilding of a man is the main enterprise of the world for splendor for expansion. The private life of one man shall be a more illustrious monarchy, more formidable to its enemy, more sweet and serene in its influence on its friend, than any kingdom in history. One man comprehends the particular natures of all men. It ever pours itself out into all men and grows larger and larger. It is the central fire which, flaming now out of the lips of Etna lightens the capes of Sicily. It is one light that beams out of a thousand stars. It is one soul which animates all.
The Differences Between Different Ages are Apparent, not Real
The ideas that dominate the different historical ages-the Classic, the Romantic, and the Reflective or Philosophical age-are not different, but are basically the same because there runs the oneness or the identity of the mind through all individuals of all ages.
No Harm in Being Introverted
Introversion, the characteristic trend of the present age, is often regretted, but it is not a matter to be regretted. The literary class is discontented because they find themselves not belonging to the past, and regret the coming state as untried. But the age of Revolution is the best period one would like to be born in; the old and the new then stand side by side and admit to being compared. The energies of all men are searched by fear and hope, and the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era. The present time is such an age, a very good one, and the scholar must make the best use of it.
The American Scholar Is to Bring About the Revolution
One of the propitious signs of the present age is that the things which were regarded as the low and the common have assumed proportions equal to those that were considered beautiful and sublime in the past. The literature of the poor, the feelings of the child, the philosophy of the street, the meaning of the household life are the topics of the day. It is a great stride. It is a sign of vigor when the extremities are made active when the currents of warm life run into the hands and feet. The scholar need not ask for the great, the remote, and the romantic. He should embrace the common and explore the familiar, the low. There is no trifle, no puzzle, but one design unites and animates the farthest pinnacle and the lowest trench. This idea has inspired the genius of Goldsmith, Burns, Cowper, Goethe, Wordsworth, and Carlyle. Contrasted with them the style of Pope, Johnson and Gibbon looks cold and pedantic. The near explains the far, the drop is a small ocean. A man is related to all nature.
One man, Emanuel Swedenborg, has done much for the philosophy of life. He saw and showed the connection between nature and the affections of man. He showed the mysterious bond that allies moral evil to the foul material and “has given in epochal parables a theory of insanity, of beasts, of unclean and fearful things."
Another sign of time is the new importance given to the single person. Everything that insulates the individual tends to true union as well as greatness. “The scholar is that man who must take up into himself all the ability of the time, all the contribution of the past, all the hopes of the future. He must be a university of knowledge”. The world is nothing, the man is all. In man there are all the laws of nature, in him slumbers the whole of Reason. This confidence in the unsearched might of man belongs to the American Scholar. So far, the American people have listened to the thinkers of Europe. They have been timid, initiative, decent, indolent, and complaisant. The consequence is already tragic-the mind of the country (America), taught to aim at low objects eats upon itself. Young men of the fairest promise are dying of disgust, of suicides. The remedy is, if the single man plants himself indomitably on his instincts, and abides there, the huge world will come round to him. In that case, America will be a nation of men who will exist for the first time, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.
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