Personal and Professional Epistemological Alignments

Although I have yet to encounter a specific epistemology that completely defines my theoretic stance, there are fragments from other epistemologies that I can weave together in order to create my own unique framework.  As a proponent of the AMERICAN TRANSCENDENTALISTS from the mid-nineteenth century, I align with their basic philosophies promoting individualism and resistance to norms.  Essentially, the Transcendentalists focused on “shaping life according to individually discerned aesthetic and spiritual priorities, rather than those of social convention or the marketplace” (Gould 1652-53).  While there are myriad facets to the philosophies of the American Transcendentalists, three aspects are more important to my theoretical stance than others: reason, religion, and the self.

Click on the image of the Transcendentalists to read more about their philosophies at VCU's Web of American Transcendentalism.
Click on the image of the Transcendentalists to read more about their philosophies at VCU’s Web of American Transcendentalism.

As Gould denotes, “In terms of epistemology, the Transcendentalists resisted Locke’s empiricist approach, which proposed that knowledge comes from sense experiences which are impressed on the waiting mind just as words are written on a blank slate” (1653).  Instead of aligning with Locke’s theories, the Transcendentalists felt that knowledge should be divided between the concept of understanding through rational reflections and the process of reason, which Transcendentalists feel is an inherent human gift that every person should nurture (Gould 1653).  Meanwhile, regarding spiritual beliefs, the Transcendentalists were apt to reject all orthodox religions; however, they believed in a divine Creator while discarding the notion of the possibility of divine miracles (Gould 1653). Overall, Transcendentalists make decisions and exist through the impact of the spiritual world emanating around them, not through preconceived norms established by society.

The Transcendentalists’ lack of conformity attempted to unseat norms that had been traditional in the past, especially during America’s colonial period.  This is particularly true regarding the perception of religion in America, a tradition firmly established by the Puritans.  Thomas P. Miller is quick to point out that the most valued forms of literacy in American during the last three centuries have evolved from religious literature (15). Examining the previous perceptions of religion in America is one of the best ways to identify how Transcendentalists sought to avoid conformity.  While the Transcendentalists rejected orthodox religion and dismissed divine miracles, the Puritans endeavored to satiate God’s will and were apt to look at all historical events and daily occurrences as providential signs (Hagenbuchle 127).  I offer this example, which is one of many possibilities, in order to make a case for combining the Transcendentalists’ epistemology with a more prominent theory of criticism: POSTCOLONIALISM.

Postcolonial studies tend to assess colonialism’s influence on dominated cultures and groups in society, and this is most clearly evident in African American, Feminist, and Native studies.  One scholar of Native American studies, Dr. Drew Lopenzina, looks to examine major questions in his field by focusing on how the colonial period expressed individual and cultural agency through Western notions of writing; furthermore, in order to help accomplish this mission, he doesn’t look at colonial literature that describes Native Americans.  Instead, his task is to look at what Natives themselves said about the colonial time period in order to truly “investigate Native communities and how their accounts contradict white men, thus establishing a new coherence about the true native agenda” (Lopenzina).  Dr. Lopenzina’s epistemology aligns with established researchers like Robert Warrior.  Shari Huhndorf articulates Warrior’s perspective by documenting his perseverance in developing a Native school of thought where Native Americans “stand at the helm of their own intellectual and academic destiny” (1618).  These types of perspectives may not seem to contribute to a merging of transcendental and postcolonial studies, but my proposal does possess merit.

Even though most scholars define postcolonial theory as the study of the power relations between Western nations and the territories they colonize, Booker’s definition, which is referenced in English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s), takes on a slightly different scope.  According to Booker, “Postcolonial theory arises in a cultural context informed by the attempt to build a new hybrid culture that transcends the past but still draws on the vestigial echoes of precolonial culture, the remnants of the colonial culture, and the continuing legacy of traditions of anticolonial resistance” (McComiskey 255).  With this description in place, parallels can be drawn, for the Transcendentalists worked to build a new culture, one that merged colonial traditions with novel modes of existence and philosophy.  Once again, proof of this can be reflected in the relationship between the religious attitudes of the Transcendentalists and the Puritans.  As Gould writes, “While theologically departing firmly from their Puritan heritage, the Transcendentalists continued, while altering, the Puritan view of nature as a ‘book’ to be read for spiritual lessons” (1653).  Connections such as these are riddled throughout Transcendentalist literature, and to a lesser degree, the Transcendentalists were also domineered, despite their immense efforts, by the prevailing culture of the time period.

Although it has already been implied, my objects of study include American Transcendentalist works from Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and others; in fact, works like these from the postcolonial period firmly represent what postcolonial scholars attempt to explore.  As Renu Juneja writes, “This [postcolonial literature] is a literature that veritably forces on our consciousness, and at various levels, the fact that ways of thinking are altered by this contact between two different cultures” (65).  The study of the contact between the conforming culture and the nonconformists has substantial potential, and while I have no personal agenda, unlike Dr. Lopenzina, who undertakes a study that can contribute to ethical and social justice, there can and will be other avenues to study in relation to this research.  For example, when examining key works of the Transcendentalists, Margaret Fuller’s work can be simultaneously applied through a Feminist scope.  However, from my initial standpoint, I wish to advance my own interest in the nonconformist philosophies associated with the Transcendentalists; eventually, on a more professional level, my objective will be to connect the American Transcendentalists’ philosophies to other philosophies promulgated by thinkers from other cultures, countries, and time periods.

Works Cited

Gould, Rebecca Kneale. “Transcendentalism.” Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. ed. Bron Taylor. New York: Bloomsbury Academic Publishing, 2010, Print.

Hagenbuchle, Roland. “American Literature and the Nineteenth-Century Crisis in Epistemology: The Example of Charles Brockden Brown.” Early American Literature 23.2 (1988): 121- 151. EBSCOhost Religion and Philosophy Collection. Web. 4 October 2016.

Huhndorf, Shari. “Literature and the Politics of Native American Studies.” PMLA 120.5 (2005): 1618-1627. JSTOR. Web. 4 October 2016.

Juneja, Renu. “Pedagogy of Difference.” College Teaching 41.2 (1993): 64-70. EBSCOhost: Education Research Complete. Web. 18 October 2016.

Lopenzina, Drew, Dr. Personal Telephone Interview. 13 September 2016.

McComiskey, Bruce, ed. English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s).  Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2006. Print.

Miller, Thomas P. The Evolution of College English: Literacy Studies from the Puritans to the Postmoderns.  Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011. Print.

*Click on the link below to learn more about the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture.  This site also provides a link to information about Taylor’s Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature.

http://www.religionandnature.com/index.htm