transcendentalism

transcendentalism [tran-sen-den-tl-iz-uh m, -suh n-] Word Origin noun

1. transcendental character, thought, or language.
2. Also called transcendental philosophy. any philosophy based upon the doctrine that the principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of the processes of thought, or a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical: in the U.S., associated with Emerson.

Origin of transcendentalism From the German word Transcendentalismus, dating back to 1795–1805. See transcendental, -ism Related formstran·scen·den·tal·ist, noun, adjective British Dictionary definitions for transcendental-philosophy transcendentalism noun

1. 1. any system of philosophy, esp that of Kant, holding that the key to knowledge of the nature of reality lies in the critical examination of the processes of reason on which depends the nature of experience
   2. any system of philosophy, esp that of Emerson, that emphasizes intuition as a means to knowledge or the importance of the search for the divine
2. vague philosophical speculation
3. the state of being transcendental
4. something, such as thought or language, that is transcendental

Derived Formstranscendentalist, noun, adjective Word Origin and History for transcendental-philosophy transcendentalism n.

1803, in reference to Kant, later to Schelling; 1842 in reference to the New England religio-philosophical movement; from transcendental + -ism.

transcendental-philosophy in Culture transcendentalism

A movement in nineteenth-century American literature and thought. It called on people to view the objects in the world as small versions of the whole universe and to trust their individual intuitions. The two most noted American transcendentalists were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.