THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR - RALPH WALDO EMERSON

                                                              THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR 

                                                                                                     - RALPH WALDO EMERSON 

SUMMARY 

    Originally titled "An Oration Delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, [Massachusetts,] August 31, 1837," Emerson delivered what is now referred to as "The American Scholar" essay as a speech to Harvard's Phi Beta Kappa Society, an honorary society of male college students with unusually high-grade point averages. 

    At the time, women were barred from higher education, and scholarship was reserved exclusively for men. Emerson published the speech under its original title as a pamphlet later that same year and republished it in 1838. In 1841, he included the essay in his book Essays but changed its title to "The American Scholar" to enlarge his audience to all college students, as well as other individuals interested in American letters.

     Placed in his Man Thinking: An Oration (1841), the essay found its final home in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures (1849). The text begins with an introduction in which Emerson explains that his intent is to explore the scholar as one function of the whole human being: The scholar is "Man Thinking." The remainder of the essay is organized into four sections, the first three discussing the influence of nature , the influence of the past and books, and the influence of action on the education of the thinking man. In the last section, Emerson considers the duties of the scholar and then discusses his views of America in his own time. 

INFLUENCE OF NATURE 

    Emerson says that the first and most important influence on the mind of a scholar is observing nature. Nature is full of infinitely repeating cycles that demonstrate to the attentive mind a similarity to the endless human spirit. In watching the world around them, young scholars learn how to classify and see the interconnectedness between things. They learn to discern that things function by "a law which is also a law of the human mind." No matter the subject, the scholar will observe that nature and human thought reflect each other, and the insights of one into the other allow the scholar to understand and classify all of creation. Emerson says that studying nature will suggest to the scholar a root cause of all they see, one not merely scientific but universal and spiritual, from which both they and nature spring forth. The human soul and nature are complementary, "that nature is the opposite of the soul, answering to it part for part," and in studying nature, the scholarly mind will expand to encompass both an intellectual and spiritual understanding of God's interconnected universe, of which they are an inseparable part. 

INFLUENCE OF PAST AND BOOKS

     The second major influence on the mind of the present scholar, Emerson says, is the thinking of the great minds of the past. This is transmitted through art, literature, and writing, especially through books. The great thinkers of the past learned from the world around them and recorded their thoughts poetically. The act of writing made it possible to transmit their ideas to future generations, to live on figuratively inside new minds. However, no writer can completely escape the mindset of their era, nor can later readers escape their own, and so the transmission will always be imperfect. There will be assumptions in the original work, as well as things that do not translate or are not relevant in later centuries. Each generation "must write its own books." 

    This, Emerson says, is where "mischief" sets in. People come to view the books of the past as perfect and cling dogmatically to old texts without adding innovation. Young scholars are taught to repeat the wisdom of previous great thinkers. They do not appreciate that the greatest thinkers of the past age were also once just young scholars challenging the wisdom of a previous generation. Instead of being "Man Thinking," Emerson says, these people merely love books. He contends that well-used books are "the best of things," but books misapplied are "among the worst." 

    The value of books, in Emerson's estimation, is to awaken and inspire the soul of the reader. Every person has the ability, the right, and the higher duty to create, and, at their best, books inspire their readers toward creation. However, they also have a danger of inspiring slavish imitation. Emerson mentions that readers must glean only what is authentic in literary works, such as in Greek philosopher Plato's (c. 428–c. 328) works and in English writer William Shakespeare's (1564–1616) poetry and plays. Emerson states that books should not be the primary way a scholar learns. Scholars should be interacting with the world first and reading only at night. However, Emerson hurries to assure the listener that he has no intention of underrated books. 

    He says books bring a completely unique pleasure in their consumption because they connect minds across time. He talks about the joy and surprise at finding one's own thoughts similar to those of someone living centuries before. The reader is joined to the author through time as if to another piece of the collective intellect of humanity. The author could not have foreseen the future but left it nourishment anyway, in the way some insects do for their unhatched young: "But for the evidence thence afforded to the philosophical doctrine of the identity of all minds," says Emerson, "we should suppose some pre-established harmony, some foresight of souls that were to be, and some preparation of stores for their future wants, like the fact observed in insects, who lay up food before death for the young grub they shall never see." 

    The pleasure of reading gives a sense of intellectual commune with the past as it nurtures the soul. The active and creative human mind can find intellectual nourishment in any sort of book. However, scholars should read judiciously, deciding for themselves what parts of any book are universally true and what parts are specific to the time work was written. Also, some things, such as the sciences, can only be learned by "laborious reading" and drilling in universities. However, the greater purpose of these institutions should always be to gather great young minds and let them mingle with each other while encouraging creative thought. Everything else universities do, in Emerson's opinion, is pure pomp and show. 

INFLUENCE OF ACTION 

Emerson says there is a prevailing myth that a scholar ought to be a recluse and a "valetudinarian," or hypochondriac. In this view, a scholar should be someone whose labor is entirely mental and who shies away from physical exertion. He believes people tend to view scholars, especially priests, as effeminate and practically useless. Action, he argues, is an important part of scholarship, without which the full truth and beauty of the world cannot be apprehended. Without action, a person is not whole. People learn by experience and by confrontation with the obstacles of the world. They learn to conquer fear by facing and overcoming challenges.

     "Drudgery, calamity, exasperation, want," Emerson says, "are instructors in eloquence and wisdom." The mind is always processing a person's experiences into new information and ways of thinking. While a person can look back objectively and with emotional distance on actions taken in childhood, a person cannot comprehend actions as they take them. Only hindsight can transform experiences into an understanding of universal truths. Without diverse action, thoughts become circumscribed and too narrow. Then it is possible for the scholar to find the vein of thought they had invested their lives in dried up with nothing for them to fall back on. Life and action outside of academia expose the scholar to a rich variety of wisdom and vocabulary. However, the greatest "value of action" is that it is a resource to the scholar. 

    Thought and action undulate like the ebb and flow of breath, like all things in nature, and each strengthens the other. The active scholar always has the resources to live. Without life, there is no scholarship. If the scholar lives life well and virtuously, it will not only improve the world but also their thoughts. Emerson believes in the instincts of humanity toward positive change. These instincts exist outside of and are sometimes hampered by the lessons of civilization. He claims the energetic heroes of modern thought do not emerge from the exemplars of antique cultures. The ancestors of Shakespeare and of Alfred the Great (849–99), an English king who promoted learning, were uncultured barbarians during the height of Greek and Roman culture. He only puts one limitation on useful action: the thinking person should not subsume their own judgment to popular morals. When a scholar's own mind and soul tell them what is right and what is wrong, they should trust their own judgment, even if their community or their country tell them otherwise. 

DUTIES OF SCHOLAR

     Having gone over the influence of nature, books, and action on the scholar, Emerson proposes to discuss the scholar's duties. The scholar's duties require confidence and self-trust. A scholar's careful analysis of the human mind may not bring him the immediate fame of, for example, famous astronomers John Flamsteed (1646–1719) and Sir William Herschel (1738–1822), who have concrete facts to present. However, the scholar's work is still useful even when they labour in obscurity. Their dedication to intellectual labours may leave them out of popular fashion, with little time or money. Nevertheless, they are, in Emerson's estimation, engaged in the most important work it is possible for humans to do. Scholars' work is to listen both to their own hearts and to reason with regard to the events of their time and to spread the knowledge they have heard and lessons they have learned. According to Emerson, scholars should not bend to comply with the popular sentiments of their day. They should trust themselves and their instincts, which they have honed through observation, study, and action. The solitude they may feel in this is an illusion. 

    They will discover this when they reach out with their poetry and speeches and find resonance with their audience, who will see the truth in what they are attempting to convey. Self-trust allows the scholar to be virtuous, brave, and free. They should not let fear keep them away from difficult or political questions. They should understand that the pretension of the world exists only so long as they allow it to exist. Too often scholars are cowed by the notion that things are fixed and that there is nothing new or worthwhile they could do. 

    The person who can shape the mind, however, is greater than the person who can shape matter. Emerson lists a number of great thinkers whom he feels have made an art of conveying the truth of the world. Emerson wonders if his audience will follow him to his conclusion. He believes that the current state of humanity is degenerated and very far from the light that could lead it back to where it should be. Only a few achieve their full potential. Too many people are content never to develop themselves as long as they can associate themselves with a leader. Furthermore, people have thoughtlessly accepted wealth and power as the highest human goals, but if someone awakens their power to think for themselves they will reject them. 

    The highest goal of a person should be the awakening of the universal man dwelling inside all men. Emerson says, "Each philosopher, each bard, each actor, has only done for me, as by a delegate, what one day I can do for myself." The scholar of today has already consumed all the great thoughts of the past and requires the creation of something new. Emerson comes to his final point: the duties and opportunities of the scholar at this moment in history. He relates the ages of intellectual progress: classical, Romantic, and now "Reflective or Philosophical," and compares them to the stages of life for an individual: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. People call the present "the age of Introversion," but Emerson doesn't think this is necessarily bad. The discontent of current thinkers is just outgrowing the ideas of the past generations. Writers and artists are beginning to look around at what was considered too commonplace for attention and find beauty and meaning in the everyday lives of everyday people.

     These things are as interesting, wondrous, and, most importantly, true as any epic written in the past. All things are connected and governed by the same universal laws. Emerson draws particular attention to philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) as one of the best thinkers of the current time. He attempted a complete ethical theory of modern Christianity and dwelt particularly on real but unpleasant problems such as mental illness, filth, and fear. The current age is also notable for its focus on the individual and the inalienable rights every person has. Emerson believes this is as it should be. "If there be one lesson more than another, which should pierce his ear," he says, "it is, The world is nothing, the man is all." Every individual has access to all the wisdom and knowledge they need, from their own capacity to learn from and interpret the world. 

    Because of this democratic spirit, the American Scholar will be the leader of the next wave of thought, despite current predictions to the contrary. People consider America to be in the intellectual thrall of Europe, its scholars too timid, and its culture too focused on greed. The atmosphere of avarice, drudgery, and complacency grinds down the country's brightest minds, even driving some to suicide. However, the remedy for this is the steadfast confidence of the true American scholar. If they boldly defend what is true and virtuous, they can elevate the entire nation. For the first time in all of human history, a community of whole and actualized individuals can support and inspire each other and the world.