THINKbook: Transcendentalism

This is a digital product. It will be delivered via email as a PDF.

If the United States has its own philosophical tradition, it’s Transcendentalism, a wide-reaching school of thought that spread across U.S. intellectual circles in the 19th century. It borrowed some ideas from Asian philosophies and definitely reacted to some of the rationalism of the Enlightenment, but it carved out a niche as a philosophy that both encouraged and emphasized individualism AND insisted on the importance of community and connection. Antiracist, antisexist, and antiabsolutist, Transcendentalism is a fascinating school of thought to explore.

In this year-long high school philosophy course, we will dig into the essential tests of Transcendentalism, including works by Emerson, Thoreau, and Fuller as well as modern takes on Transcendental thinking. Students will work through guided research and discussion questions, read and analyze texts (included — but you will need to rent or buy the movie version of "Into the Wild"), and develop their own philosophical arguments.

This is a high school level unit, designed for students who are already familiar with the basic elements of critical reading and annotation. Like most high school level curricula, it includes works that could be rated M for Mature. If mature content is a concern for you with your student, I encourage you to preview texts to assess your personal comfort level. (I read these texts with my own high school student and teach them in high school classes, but comfort levels can be very personal things.) This is a completely secular program.

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