Talk:Self-Reliance

I am trying to expand the summary section of this essay. I think explaining more of the main points that Emerson is making will help clarify his purpose for writing this essay. Also, there are many not-as-important points he makes in the story, aside from the ones listed in the summary, so I could explain those. Also, adding quotes from the essay that relate to the points would help with understanding. if I add these things, the summary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau?swipe_mode=false#/media/File:John_Brown_-_Treason_broadside,_1859.png be clearer and easier to understand. View my talk page to see more descriptions for the essay. Rmpatel9 (talk) 04:06, 30 October 2014 (UTC)

I would like to see more information on this topic. I forgot a lot of it from my American Literature course a few years back. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.113.90.118 (talk • contribs) 22:01, May 10, 2005

It would be more helpful if there was more information on this subject. The two lines that are given are not much of a help in figuring out the few things I want to know about this subject. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.215.80.188 (talk • contribs) 19:07, October 11, 2006

A helpful link : http://www.banned-books.com/truth-seeker/1995archive/122_1/ts221a.html - willie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.74.74.42 (talk • contribs) 04:24, October 16, 2006

Self reliant means independence or independent means that you only depend on your self and nobody else —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.245.197.18 (talk) 22:38, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

The long paragraph ["The Transcendentalist movement flourished in New England" through "innermost part of the people that guides the way in life"] really seems like it's plagiarized from something else or, at least, written far too... "essay-ish", with statements that do not seem like they belong in an encyclopedic article, especially in the "history" section thereof. I removed some of the worst offenders ("if you can guess what they are", for example), but it still seems... 69.160.210.168 (talk) 00:05, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

Stoicism
Seems to me that Emerson et al mistook German (and Protestant, generally) Stoicism for Idealism or at least confused it. Like the Stoics they were republican and self-reliant, but desired to live according to nature. They weren't antinomians. They were anarchists in the constructive indidividualist sense. Libertarians. Jonathan Edwards showed a similar confusion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.28.145.40 (talk) 20:41, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Transcendentalism
It seems to me that Self-Reliance is Emerson's manifesto regarding transcendentalist philosophy wherein he expounds how all of nature is permeated with a universal and infinite spirit, which is the source of truth and virtue and is the foundation of the physical world and all existence, beside which all petty concerns of everyday temporal reality pale. Moreover, man should discover his connection to the great transcendental truth through his own intuitions and feelings, rather than trying to find it in dusty old words and rituals of established religions. Emerson equates the eternal spirit with God, although his concept of God is far different from that of western religions, and no doubt in combination with his famous Address to Harvard Divinity School, gave rise to charges of heresy and contributed to his being banned from Harvard for three decades. 174.56.173.38 (talk) 14:05, 18 January 2024 (UTC)kolef174.56.173.38 (talk) 14:05, 18 January 2024 (UTC)