Questions for Dr. Stakhanovite

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Would you be good enough to explain in layman terms 1) how Transcendentalism is related to Existentialism and 2) how they differ significantly?

I’m fairly certain Existentialism is an outgrowth of transcendental philosophy since the latter came before the prior. But I’d like to understand how a legitimate philosopher views one through the lens of the other in a way that’d make sense to the common man. Thanks in advance if you decide to tackle this question for me.

- Doc

[K Graham]

Would you be good enough to explain in layman terms 1) how Transcendentalism is related to Existentialism and 2) how they differ significantly?

I’m fairly certain Existentialism is an outgrowth of transcendental philosophy since the latter came before the prior. But I’d like to understand how a legitimate philosopher views one through the lens of the other in a way that’d make sense to the common man. Thanks in advance if you decide to tackle this question for me.

- Doc

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[DrStakhanovite]

Would you be good enough to explain in layman terms 1) how Transcendentalism is related to Existentialism and 2) how they differ significantly?

I’m fairly certain Existentialism is an outgrowth of transcendental philosophy since the latter came before the prior. But I’d like to understand how a legitimate philosopher views one through the lens of the other in a way that’d make sense to the common man. Thanks in advance if you decide to tackle this question for me.

I’m sorry I never saw this Doc! I never check this forum, but I was using the search function for a post of mine and saw this in the results. I hope my take is still relevant.

First, I should mention up front that my knowledge of American Transcendentalism is limited to second hand sources that provide summaries. I’ve not spent much time reading any of the authors that get categorized under transcendentalism.

The common origin of Existentialism and Transcendentalism is German philosophy, in particular Immanuel Kant. What Transcendentalists took from Kant was an interpretation of his “transcendental idealism”, but it was more like a general inspiration rather than assuming Kant’s entire project. The idea is basically this: the mind manufactures our experienced reality from our empirical senses and so, our reality is largely a mental phenomena that we can exert some primitive control over.

Now the Transcendentalists didn’t take this to mean that everything is just mind over matter, but they cultivated a series of practices to help people find and appreciate beauty in the world, which in turn enabled people to find more contentment and satisfaction. Think of a dude who got rich working his ass off in the world of finance and achieved a lot of benchmarks of status and success, but he abandons all of that to live a modest life in rural America where he spends his day working in a garden, raising animals, and exploring the countryside. When asked why he gave up the trappings of success, he responds along the lines of saying he finds a simple life far more satisfying, that periods of physical labor followed by leisure time filled with appreciating nature, listening to music, and reading, give him a better sense of satisfaction than the usual luxurious enjoyed by the rich.

That is the kind of “mind over matter” the Transcendentalists hope to inspire. It reminded me of some basic concepts in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the kind of mindfulness practices they teach to people to help control intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

By Contrast, Existentialism arose from a rejection of Kantian philosophy (in favor of the likes of Franz Brentano). When the logical positivists were trying to use philosophy of mathematics to reshape the natural sciences, there was a contemporaneous group called phenomenologists that were trying to do the exact same thing, but instead of being guided by a philosophy of mathematics like the positivists, they were being guided by a philosophy of the mind. Jean Paul Sartre is a product of phenomenology in the same manner A.J. Ayer is a product of logical positivism.

Modern existentialists (not the earlier thinkers who get grandfathered in, like Kierkegaard) assumed humans had some kind of unrestricted will to make choices and thus the choices and actions you willed into existence are where we ought to anchor the meaning of our lives.

So in a broad sense, Existentialists and the Transcendentalists compliment each other because they focus on different aspects of our innerlife, but they did so for different reasons and had different intellectual justifications for those reasons.

[Res Ipsa]

Very helpful. Thanks. I'm glad you found the thread.

[Dr Exiled]

Thank you Dr. Stackhanovite. I am listening to a lot of philosophy lectures online as a result of your comments here. I was a biology major in college and missed out on a lot as far as the humanities are concerned. I had a superficial exposure to Kant and some of the other philosophers. However, I am enjoying these lectures online and am really appreciative of your time here, explaining these concepts to a lay audience. Thank you.

[Philo Sofee]

Where online are the lectures? I would be interested in taking a listen to them also. Thanks!