What Is Emerson's View On Individualism

Emerson was a philosopher from the late 1800s. He was at the forefront of the transcendentalism movement and had a strong belief that intuitive thinking is far superior to logical reasoning. He successfully argues that men should reject the constraints of conformity, abandon tradition, and follow their personal intuition. He does this by appealing to people’s sense of pride and fear, using examples and the credibility of others in the past, and using religion to explain why individualism is best.

Primarily, he targets human fear. Emerson explains, “we but half express ourselves, and are ashamed… but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.” (Emerson, 86) Emerson is saying that if we fail to express what is in our hearts because of fear, we are cowards before everyone. No one
wants to appear timid, so this will cause people to be less guarded and stimulate them to not conform to others. Emerson further elaborates, “whoso must be a man, must be a nonconformist.” (Emerson, 88) This appeals to men’s pride. Emerson says that if you sway hither and thither to everyone’s opinion, you are not a man. Everyone wants to have a sense of manhood. Emerson insinuates that individualism is tantamount to manhood. Since manhood is the ultimate goal of everyone, people must also strive for nonconformity.

Secondly, Emerson uses people well recognized in the past to hail nonconformity.
Emerson brings out, “Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton.. to be great is to be misunderstood.” (Emerson, 92) The people mentioned in the quote lived in very conservative times. The majority of their contemporaries held on to deeply entrenched ideas and traditions; however, Socrates and the other notable figures mentioned challenged those ideas and came up with their own that ran contrary to what others believed. Their beliefs are now widely accepted today (and have proven true), providing the modern-day foundation of mathematics, literature, composition, and science. For example, people thought that the earth was flat; on the contrary, Galileo conducted science experiments and proved instead that the earth was round. In ancient Greece, the people believed in many deities and did not think twice about it. Socrates, on the other hand, taught people to think for themselves. Emerson believes that if we question things that don’t seem right to us, we can become great just like those memorable academic and religious
leaders.

Lastly, Emerson uses religion to encourage people to remove the barricade of conformity. Emerson writes, “God has armed youth and puberty and manhood no less with its own piquancy and charm, and made it enviable and gracious and its claim not to be put by.” (Emerson, 87) He says that God has given humans the authority and gift of freedom of expression. Since humans have the god-given gift of freedom, we should not be confined to other people’s standards and set our own standards. To do something contrary to that is not only a form of self-torture and limiting your abilities, but is also disrespectful to God.

Emerson champions the idea that sticking to your own beliefs is ideal by invoking our sense of pride and fear, using respectable people in the past, and using God to give us confidence that good can come out of something when we stick to our gut and do not follow the crowd. His idea of individualism is controversial; however, on close examination, his argument is logical, legitimate, and heartfelt. His perspective on life is worthy of consideration and well-communicated.