坐而言、起而行：論亨利．大衛．梭羅《公民不服從》中的超驗主義精神 - 政大學術集成

全文

(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士論文. 指導教授：柯瑞強. 先生. Advisor: Dr. John Michael Corrigan. 立. 政治大. 學. ‧ 國. 坐而言、起而行：論亨利．大衛．梭羅《公民不服從》中的超驗主義精神 Action from Principle:. Transcendentalism in Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 研究生：賴盈穎. i n U. v. 撰. Name: Lai Yin-Yin 中華民國 107 年 6 月 June 2018. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(2) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(3) Action from Principle: Transcendentalism in Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. A Master Thesis Presented to Department of English,. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. National Chengchi University. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Lai Yin-Yin June 2018. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(4) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(5) Acknowledgement First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Professor John Michael Corrigan, for his patience, motivation, immense knowledge, and continuous support of this master’s thesis. His guidance helped me as I researched and wrote these chapters; he enabled me to take ownership of this project while carefully steering me in the right the direction whenever he thought I needed it. I cannot imagine having had a better advisor and mentor for my master’s thesis.. 政治大 hsin and Justin Prystash, for their valuable comments, remarks and encouragement. 立 I would also like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Professors Hsu Li-. My sincere thanks also go to Professors Yang Li-min, Lin Chih-hsin, Jiang Tsui-fen,. ‧ 國. 學. and Thomas John Sellari, and Lecturer Wu Xuan-hong, all of whom led me to the. ‧. world of literature during my college years and inspired me to pursue a master’s. io. er. Anny Wang, Betty Teng, and Jennifer Chang for their assistance.. sit. y. Nat. degree. I want to take this opportunity to thank as well the following university staff:. A special thanks to Max Vanderhyden, who has helped me with proofreading and. al. n. v i n Chim editing. I am grateful and indebted to and earnest suggestions. U h efornhisg expert i h c. I thank my friends – Demi Lee, Lucy Lu, Ken Wu, Jass Chou, Vivianne Lo,. Rebecca Xie, Cecilia Yen, and Ming-Fang Cheng – for their warm companionship. Without them, my graduate student life would not have been so full of laughter. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents Lai Mu-hui and Wei Lei-er, my cat Mimi, and my partner Freddy Chen for providing me with unceasing support in writing this thesis and in my life in general. Thank you.. iii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(6) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. iv. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(7) Table of Contents Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................................iii Chinese Abstract ..................................................................................................................... ix English Abstract ...................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 13. 1.1 General Background and Information ......................................................................... 13 1.2 Defining Concept ........................................................................................................ 14 1.3 Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 14 1.4 Research Niche ............................................................................................................ 15. 政治大. 1.5 Research Purpose ........................................................................................................ 16. 立. 1.6 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 16. ‧ 國. 學. 1.7 Research Value ............................................................................................................ 17 1.8 Overview of the Study................................................................................................. 17. ‧. Chapter 2. Split Images of Thoreau: Literature Review ............................................. 19. sit. y. Nat. 2.1 Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience in General ........................................ 19. 2.1.2. Inside Academic Circles: Thoreau, an Unqualified Political Thinker ................. 20. 2.1.4. al. v i n C h Thinker or Nature Split Images of Thoreau: Political e n g c h i U Writer? ............................ 21 n. 2.1.3. er. Outside Academic Circles: Thoreau, a Giant in Civil Rights Campaigns ........... 20. io. 2.1.1. Double Marginalization: Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” ................................. 22. 2.2 Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience in the Political Field ......................... 23 2.2.1. The 1960s: Is It Legal to Engage in Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience? .............. 23. 2.2.2. The 1970s: Is It Practical to Execute Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience?............. 24. 2.2.3. The 1980s-1990s: Is Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience Important? ..................... 25. 2.2.4. The 2000s-2010s: Political and Unpolitical Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience .... 26. 2.2.5. Review of Political Discussions of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience ................. 27. 2.3 Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience in the Literary Field ......................... 27 2.3.1. Emersonian Interconnectedness........................................................................... 27 v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(8) 2.3.2. Enacting the Transcendentalist Doctrines............................................................ 29. 2.3.3. A Higher Law That Matters ................................................................................. 30. 2.4 Review of the Literary Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience ..................... 31 Chapter 3. The New England Philosophy: Transcendentalism .................................. 33. 3.1 The Transcendental Club and the Transcendentalists ................................................. 34 3.1.1. The Transcendentalists ........................................................................................ 34. 3.1.2. The Transcendental Club ..................................................................................... 35. 3.2 New England Transcendentalism ................................................................................ 36 3.2.1. Transcendentalism in Religion ............................................................................ 37. 3.2.2. Transcendentalism in Philosophy ........................................................................ 40. 3.2.3. Transcendentalism in Literature .......................................................................... 42. 3.2.4. Transcendentalism in Politics .............................................................................. 45. 3.2.5. Transcendentalism: a Four-Faceted Intellectual Movement ................................ 47. Chapter 4. Transcendentalist Principles: Analytical Framework .............................. 49. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. sit. y. Nat. 4.1 The Importance of Emerson ........................................................................................ 49. io. er. 4.2 The Importance of Essays ........................................................................................... 50. al. 4.3 The Four Transcendentalist Principles ........................................................................ 52. n. v i n Ch Three Disclaimers ................................................................................................ 52 engchi U. 4.3.1 4.3.2. The First Principle/ the Mystical Principle: the Over-Soul ................................. 53. 4.3.3. The Second Principle/ the Moral Principle: Inner-Divinity ................................. 56. 4.3.4. The Third Principle/ the Political Principle: Anti-Authority ............................... 57. 4.3.5. The Fourth Principle/ the Practical Principle: Self-Reliance ............................... 59. 4.4 Transcendentalist Analytical Framework: Transcendentalist Principles..................... 63 Chapter 5. Transcendentalism in Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” ........................... 65. 5.1 Historical Background................................................................................................. 65 5.1.1. The Thrice-Changed Title.................................................................................... 66. 5.1.2. Three Events That Provoked Thoreau ................................................................. 66 vi. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(9) 5.1.3. Three Contemporary Models That Impressed Thoreau ....................................... 66. 5.1.4. Four Principles That Motivated Thoreau ............................................................. 67. 5.2 “I Did Not Feel Confined”: the Over-Soul in “Civil Disobedience” .......................... 68 5.2.1. Prison as an “Honorable Ground”: Access to the Universe ................................. 68. 5.2.2. “In the Midst of a Huckleberry Field”: Access to Nature .................................... 71. 5.2.3. “I Must Get off Him First”: Access to Others ..................................................... 72. 5.2.4. The Over-Soul: Access to the Universe, Nature, and Others .................................. 72. 5.3 “A Higher Law Than I”: Inner Divinity in “Civil Disobedience” ............................... 73 5.3.1. “Why Has Every Man a Conscience?”: Thoreauvian Conscience ...................... 73. 5.3.2. “A Higher Law Than I”: Thoreauvian Higher Law ............................................. 77. 5.3.3. Inner Divinity: Conscience and Higher Law ....................................................... 79. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 5.4 “War with the State: Anti-Authority in “Civil Disobedience” .................................... 80 “Resistance to Civil Government”: Anti-Government ........................................ 80. 5.4.2. “Standing So Completely within the Institution”: Anti-Institution ..................... 83. 5.4.3. “Mercy of Chance”: Anti-Mainstream ................................................................ 85. 5.4.4. Anti-Authority: Governments, Institutions, and the Mainstream ........................ 87. ‧. 5.4.1. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 5.5 “It Must Help Itself”: Self-Reliance in “Civil Disobedience”..................................... 87. al. n. v i n C h People without Self-Reliance “They Do Nothing in Earnest”: ............................ 87 engchi U. 5.5.1 5.5.2 5.5.3. Self-Reliance in Three Levels ............................................................................. 91 Self-Reliance: Self-Sufficiency, Self-Motivation, and Civil Disobedience ........ 96. 5.6 The Thoreauvian Political Triad.................................................................................. 97 5.6.1. “Action from Principle” and Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience ........................... 97. 5.6.2. Revolution and Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience ................................................ 99. 5.6.3. The Thoreauvian Political Triad ........................................................................ 100. Chapter 6. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 103. 6.1 What Is New? – Findings and Discoveries ............................................................... 103 6.1.1. Transcendentalism and Civil Disobedience: Principle and Action .................... 104 vii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(10) 6.1.2. The Mystical, the Moral, the Political, the Practical: Concept and Practice...... 104. 6.1.3. The Thoreauvian Political Triad ........................................................................ 104. 6.2 Contribution to Research ........................................................................................... 105 6.2.1. The Link between Transcendentalism and Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” .... 105. 6.2.2. The Four Transcendentalist Principles .............................................................. 105. 6.2.3. The Thoreauvian Political Triad ........................................................................ 105. 6.3 Who Should Read This Research .............................................................................. 106 6.3.1. Those Curious about the Concept of Civil Disobedience .................................. 106. 6.3.2. Those Interested in Political Perspectives on Civil Disobedience ..................... 106. 6.3.3. Those Interested in Literary Perspectives on Civil Disobedience ..................... 106. 立. 政治大. 6.4 Defending the Question, Methodology, Evidence, and Inferences ........................... 107 A Justifiable Question ....................................................................................... 107. 6.4.2. A Reasonable Methodology .............................................................................. 108. 6.4.3. Persuasive Evidence .......................................................................................... 108. 6.4.4. Credible Inferences ............................................................................................ 109. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 6.4.1. sit. y. Nat. io. al. er. 6.5 Why Does It Matter? – Its Academic and Practical Significance ............................. 109. n. Works Cited .......................................................................................................................... 111. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. viii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(11) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文摘要. 論文名稱：坐而言、起而行：論亨利．大衛．梭羅《公民不服從》中的超驗主義精神指導教授：柯瑞強教授摘要內容：學界研究梭羅之《公民不服從》常將其置於社會科學範疇內，探討其政治可行性、合法性、有效性等議題。雖成果豐碩，但僅從政治與法律觀點探討，卻忽略其文學本質與其時代脈絡，不免落於俗套、有狹隘與簡化之嫌。本文視《公民不服從》為文學作品，從文學觀點（Literary Perspective）出發、佐以超驗主義作為研究途徑（Transcendentalist Approach），探討 19 世紀新英格蘭超驗主義（New England Transcendentalism）如何影響、型塑與啟發梭羅《公民不服從》，並試圖證明《公民不服從》本質上為體現（embody）超驗主義精神的作品。本文分為六章。第一章為緒論，介紹研究背景與問題意識（超驗主義如何. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 影響公民不服從？）。第二章為文獻回顧，爬梳政治與文學領域如何看待梭羅《公民不服從》。第三章為時代思潮背景，概述 19 世紀新英格蘭超驗主義。第四章為方法論，採用愛默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson）、從其代表性作品《隨筆全集》（Essays）萃取四個核心原則作為超驗主義基石，分別為：超靈（OverSoul）、內在神性（Inner Divinity）、反權威（Anti-Authority）、自立（SelfReliance）等。第五章為文本分析，以細讀（close reading）方式逐步檢視梭羅《公民不服從》如何體現超靈、內在神性、反權威、自立等原則。第六章為結論，提供研究發現與貢獻。本研究得出結論三點：1.《公民不服從》是梭羅貫徹超驗主義下的成果；2. 《公民不服從》包含神秘（the mystical）、道德（the moral）、政治（the political）、實用（the practical）等多元面向，且皆具概念與實作；3.梭羅政治三元體（Thoreauvian political triad）是由行動秉持原則（action from principle）、公民不服從（civil disobedience）、和平革命（peaceable revolution）三者組成。. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 關鍵字：《公民不服從》、梭羅、超驗主義、十九世紀美國文學、愛默生. ix. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(12) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. x. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(13) Abstract Academic researchers typically position Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” within a narrow political science framework, dismissing Thoreau as a second-rate political thinker and characterizing “Civil Disobedience” as a conceptually disorganized rather than academically significant theory. However, the political science lens provides only a partial view of “Civil Disobedience.” Placing Thoreau within the literary and philosophical milieu of his time, this study utilizes a. 政治大 Series of Essays to engage in a立 close reading of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” from Transcendentalist approach derived from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s First & Second. ‧ 國. 學. a literary perspective. It explores the connections between “Civil Disobedience” and the New England philosophy, Transcendentalism. To this end, I develop the following. ‧. research question: to what extent and in what way does New England. sit. y. Nat. Transcendentalism inform Thoreauvian civil disobedience? I hypothesize that 1). al. er. io. Thoreauvian civil disobedience exemplifies the confluence of “action from principle”. v. n. (Thoreau 154) and 2) “principle” refers to Transcendentalist Principles while “action”. Ch. engchi. refers to the enactment of those principles.. i n U. To answer the above research question, I use a Transcendentalist analytical framework that involves four principles, each representing a different dimension of Transcendentalist thought: the Over-Soul (the mystical), Inner Divinity (the moral), Anti-Authority (the political), and Self-Reliance (the practical). Through these lenses, I utilize textual evidence to demonstrate how Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” enacts Transcendentalist Principles. First, Thoreau enacts the mystical principle of the OverSoul by connecting himself to the Universe, Nature, and others. Second, Thoreau exemplifies the moral principle of Inner Divinity by following his conscience and. xi. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(14) Higher Law. Third, Thoreau embodies the political principle of Anti-Authority by distrusting authorities like governments, institutions, and the various iterations of the mainstream. Finally, Thoreau asserts the practical principle of Self-Reliance that consists of self-sufficiency, self-motivation, and defiance. With the aid of a systematic categorical analysis and textual evidence, I decipher the covert Transcendentalism in “Civil Disobedience.” My analysis shows that 1) Transcendentalism fuels Thoreauvian civil disobedience, 2) Thoreauvian civil disobedience has mystical, moral, political, and practical dimensions and involves. 政治大 encompasses principled action, civil disobedience, and peaceable revolution. 立. both theory and action, and 3) there exists a “Thoreauvian political triad” that. Ultimately, I draw the following conclusions: 1) to understand fully “Civil. ‧ 國. 學. Disobedience,” one must reread it from a literary Transcendentalist perspective rather. ‧. than viewing it merely as a political tract; and 2) the phrase “action from principle”. y. Nat. encapsulates the core of Thoreauvian civil disobedience––the combination of. n. al. er. io. sit. Transcendentalist Principles and the corresponding political actions.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Keywords: “Civil Disobedience”; “Resistance to Civil Government”; Henry David Thoreau; New England philosophy; Transcendentalism; Transcendentalist; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Essays; the Over-Soul; Self-Reliance.. xii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(15) Chapter 1 Introduction In this thesis, I interpret Henry David Thoreau’s political essay “Civil Disobedience” from a literary perspective using a Transcendentalist approach derived from Emersonian Transcendentalist philosophy. Describing how Thoreau applies Transcendentalist Principles––the Over-Soul, Inner divinity, Anti-Authority, and Self-. 政治大 Disobedience” does not merely contain a political dimension; it is a political essay 立 Reliance––to his conception of civil disobedience, I contend that “Civil. based on the tenets of the nineteenth-century New England philosophy:. ‧ 國. 學. Transcendentalism. Only by examining “Civil Disobedience” through the lens of. ‧. Transcendentalism can one accurately understand its political message.. sit. y. Nat. 1.1 General Background and Information. al. er. io. First, I adopt an approach based on Emersonian Transcendentalism because. v. n. Ralph Waldo Emerson is the most iconic representative of the Transcendental. Ch. engchi. i n U. Movement. His First & Second Series of Essays, produced when he was at the height of his writerly powers (Packer 138), embody the essence of Transcendentalism and serve as an ideal and firm cornerstone for building a theory of Transcendentalism. Second, I use “Civil Disobedience” as a key text, since in it, Thoreau narrates and reflects on the night he spent incarcerated in Middlesex County Jail in July of 1846 for refusing to pay a $1.50 Massachusetts poll tax (Carton 107). Originally entitled “Resistance to Civil Government” (1849), the essay has become known worldwide as “Civil Disobedience,” the title it was given in an 1866 posthumous collection of Thoreau’s writings (Gross 1). Offering a principled justification for Thoreau’s. 13. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(16) conscientious refusal to comply with immoral laws, “Civil Disobedience” has entered the political lexicon and “made its mark on history through its influence on twentiethcentury movements” (Gross 2). It served, for example, as a reference point for both Mohandas Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance against the British Raj in India and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Civil Rights campaigns in the United States (Taylor 3). 1.2 Defining Concept Before proceeding with my discussion of Thoreauvian civil disobedience, I need to define an important concept, Transcendentalism. H. C. Goddard assigns two. 政治大 refers to a branch of the eighteenth-century German Idealism associated with 立. different meanings to the term transcendental (1). First, in the philosophical field, it. ‧ 國. 學. Immanuel Kant’s transcendental philosophy, a strictly metaphysical and purely theoretical discourse. Second, in the literary field, it refers to the nineteenth-century. ‧. New England intellectual movement centered on Emerson, a more flexible, fluid, and. sit. y. Nat. untheorized philosophy. I use the second meaning in this study; it places Thoreau. al. er. io. within the literary and philosophical background of his milieu. According to the. v. n. definition embraced by Goddard, Robert D. Habich, Robert C. Nowatzki, and Russell. Ch. engchi. i n U. Goodman, Transcendentalism was an American literary, philosophical, religious and political movement of the early nineteenth century (Goddard 196; Habich and Nowatzki 89; Goodman). The importance of specifying the definition will, I hope, become obvious in the following analysis and discussion. 1.3 Literature Review Though popular among activists and reformers, for many years Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” received mostly critical readings from scholars, partly due to prevailing “split images of” Thoreau as “a natural writer and a political thinker” (Mariotti 4). In the academic world, “Civil Disobedience” has usually fallen into the 14. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(17) hands of the political scholars, who, for the most part, have treated it uncongenially (Taylor 1). Some attack Thoreauvian civil disobedience for its illegality (Zinn 24), some doubt its practicality (Arendt 60), and some devalue its effectiveness (Rawls 320). More recent scholarship, however, has tried to reestablish the text’s political significance (Cavell 84). In general, political theorists tend to diminish Thoreau as a second-rate thinker and regard “Civil Disobedience” as a conceptually disorganized rather than academically significant political theory. Although a large body of literature exists on Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” scholars have devoted. 政治大 civil disobedience. In literary criticism, several studies include hints of 立. surprisingly little attention to the link between Transcendentalism and Thoreauvian. Transcendentalist interpretations of Thoreauvian civil disobedience: some connect it. ‧ 國. 學. with Emersonianism (Gura 225; Buell 257; Taylor 56); some believe it exemplifies. ‧. Transcendentalist beliefs and actions (Packer 191; Johnston 319; Powell 174); and. y. Nat. some equate it with the law of conscience (Harding 207; Madden 97; von Frank 96).. Transcendentalism and “Civil Disobedience.”. n. al. 1.4 Research Niche. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. In different ways, these literary critics acknowledge the relationship between. i n U. v. I appreciate that these critics approach the text differently than traditional political studies; nonetheless, their papers focus mostly on other issues, mentioning the connection between Transcendentalism and Thoreauvian civil disobedience in a few passing sentences without providing detailed textual evidence or specifying the connections between the two concepts. For example, some critics mention the influence of Emerson but do not articulate the ways or to what degree Emersonian thought inflects Thoreau’s text. When critics claim, “Thoreau applied the Transcendentalist principles” (Powell 174) or Thoreau “carried out the spiritual. 15. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(18) principle of Transcendentalism” to its “socio-political conclusions” (Johnstone 315), what principles are they referring to? Moreover, how does Thoreau enact these ideas politically? Merely via conscience? What is more, is conscience equal to Thoreauvian civil disobedience (Harding 207)? Insufficiently addressed or unsolved, these questions encourage me to explore this topic in greater depth to determine what broader possibilities may present themselves. 1.5 Research Purpose Unlike political scholars, who ignore the role of Transcendentalist philosophy in. 政治大 between Thoreauvian civil disobedience 立 and Transcendentalism, this thesis details the “Civil Disobedience,” and literary scholars, who simply mention the connection. ‧ 國. 學. ways Transcendentalist Principles manifest in Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.” Applying four principles that I derive from Emersonian Transcendentalism as. ‧. presented in his Essays, I contend that Thoreau’s belief in Transcendentalist Principles. sit. y. Nat. – the Over-Soul, Inner Divinity, Anti-Authority, and Self-Reliance – prompted him to. al. er. io. write the essay. Thus, because “Civil Disobedience” substantially embodies. v. n. Transcendentalism, merely regarding it as a political pamphlet from the perspective of. Ch. engchi. i n U. political science is not entirely accurate. “Civil Disobedience” warrants diverse interpretations and, as I contend, the Transcendentalist approach is the most persuasive and reasonable. 1.6 Research Questions I aim to examine the relationship between Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Transcendentalism. My primary research question is: to what extent and in what way does New England Transcendentalism inform Thoreauvian civil disobedience? How can the text be used to prove that Thoreauvian political ideas resonate with Transcendentalism? Besides its salient political aspects, does the essay manifest 16. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(19) mystical, religious, or practical Transcendentalist Principles? Is Thoreauvian civil disobedience merely theoretical, or does it prescribe concrete action? If it prescribes action, what kind of action? Thoreau mentions revolution in “Civil Disobedience,” does revolution run contrary to Thoreauvian civil disobedience? 1.7 Research Value In this study, I aim to compensate for the lack of scholarly consideration of the link between Thoreau’s political article “Civil Disobedience” and the New England philosophy, Transcendentalism. Utilizing four major principles derived from. 政治大 cogent and reasonable analysis立 to elucidate how and why a Transcendentalist reading Transcendentalism, I combine meticulous and exhaustive textual evidence with. ‧ 國. 學. is crucial to understanding Thoreauvian civil disobedience. 1.8 Overview of the Study. ‧. This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter provides an overview of the. y. Nat. sit. entire essay. The second chapter reviews political science and literary scholarship that. n. al. er. io. addresses Thoreauvian civil disobedience. The third chapter provides important. i n U. v. background information, introducing New England Transcendentalism. The fourth. Ch. engchi. chapter outlines my analytical approach, detailing the four Transcendentalist Principles I extract from Emerson’s Essays: the Over-Soul, Inner Divinity, AntiAuthority, and Self-Reliance. After establishing this context, the fifth chapter, provides a close reading of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” from the Transcendentalist perspective. I examine how the text connects closely with Transcendentalism, argue that it is a political work with a Transcendentalist core, and propose a theory – the Thoreauvian political triad. The sixth chapter concludes the analysis, reaffirming Thoreauvian civil disobedience as a form of political “action from principle” (Thoreau 154) specifically based on Transcendentalist principles. 17. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(20) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 18. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(21) Chapter 2 Split Images of Thoreau: Literature Review In this chapter, I investigate three branches of academic research regarding Thoreauvian civil disobedience: the general field, the political field, and the literary field. I begin the first section with a general appraisal of Thoreau. Outside academic circles, people related to civil rights campaigns have treated him and “Civil Disobedience” as a source of inspiration, whereas academics have long treated him. 政治大. and his work uncongenially. This scholarly disfavor may stem from Thoreau’s. 立. irreconcilably dichotomous status as both a nature writer and a political thinker, which. ‧ 國. 學. makes him a “problematic figure” (Mariotti 4) and marginalizes Thoreauvian civil disobedience in both the political and literary fields. In the second section, I trace. ‧. scholarly views of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” from the 1960s to the 2010s,. y. Nat. sit. revealing the shifts in academic focus – from legality to practicality to compatibility. n. al. er. io. with individualism – over time. In the third section, I examine how literary scholars. i n U. v. discuss Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” focusing particularly on how they connect. Ch. engchi. Transcendentalism to Thoreauvian civil disobedience.. 2.1 Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience in General In this section, I review and evaluate both academic and non-academic views of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.” In general, reformers have revered the text while scholars have mostly diminished it. This discrepancy may have resulted from Thoreau’s “split images” (Mariotti 4) that he is a nature writer and political thinker at the same time, which ultimately led to the marginalization of “Civil Disobedience” in both the literary and political fields.. 19. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(22) 2.1.1 Outside Academic Circles: Thoreau, a Giant in Civil Rights Campaigns Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” gained attention among political activists in the early twentieth century. As Bob Pepperman Taylor points out in The Routledge Guidebook to Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov read the essay and recommended it to their friends; Gandhi claimed that Thoreau’s ideas greatly influenced his nonviolent resistance against the British Raj in India; Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged that Thoreau’s works were an impetus for his Civil Rights campaign in the 1950s and 60s (Taylor 3). These literary and civil rights giants. 政治大 In light of his importance in protest politics, Thoreau’s reputation among 立. recognized the contribution of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.”. scholars is somewhat surprising. As Taylor points out in America’s Bachelor Uncle,. ‧ 國. 學. scholarly reviews have been comparatively few over decades. This academic lacuna. ‧. has two main implications: 1) Thoreau’s importance in popular culture and political. y. Nat. movements apparently has little correlation with scholarly judgments of the. er. io. sit. intellectual value of his political thought; 2) scholars regard Thoreau’s political thought more as a symptom of a problem in the American political tradition than a. al. n. v i n rich, powerful, and helpful resourceC (Taylor 2). In other words, h e n g c h i U “Civil Disobedience” extended Thoreau’s influence to political and social movements and protests the world over, but led him to be less favored by the academic establishment. 2.1.2 Inside Academic Circles: Thoreau, an Unqualified Political Thinker Thoreau’s work has received relatively scarce commentary from political theorists, and what attention he has received has not been very friendly (Taylor 1). General criticisms of Thoreau’s politics tend to be disdainful and elusive. According to Shannon L. Mariotti’s Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal, some scholars amplify Thoreau’s personality flaws and regard him as unqualified to write about political. 20. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(23) issues. For example, Philip Abbott claims that Thoreau had a personal crisis that led him to reject community; Richard Bridgman declares that Thoreau had psychological problems that made his works pessimistic, hostile, depressed, frustrated, and anxious (Mariotti 5). Other scholars argue that Thoreau’s idiosyncratic personality limited his politics. In Crisis of the Republic, Hannah Arendt contends that Thoreau’s need to act out of conscience, which was “unpolitical” (60), restrained him politically. In “Thoreau’s Militant Conscience,” Nancy Rosenblum, likewise, describes Thoreau’s conscience as rooted in a sense of anger, insignificance, and powerlessness. 政治大 a hermit who withdrew from politics into nature; for instance, Joel Porte proposes that 立 (Rosenblum 81) that curtailed his political development. Still others paint Thoreau as. Thoreau’s political dream was a government that would leave him alone and allow. ‧ 國. 學. him to pursue aesthetic experiences in nature (Porte 150). Similarly, in The Machine. ‧. in the Garden, Leo Marx surmises that Thoreau retreated from politics to nature. y. Nat. because he could not reconcile the contradiction posed by the machine in the garden –. er. io. sit. namely, the juxtaposition of industrial modernity and the pastoral sublime (Marx 265). Thus, in various ways, critics have generally claimed that Thoreau was not an. n. al. ideal political thinker.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2.1.3 Split Images of Thoreau: Political Thinker or Nature Writer? The scholarly disfavor directed toward Thoreau may have resulted from his apparently irreconcilable position as both a nature writer and a political thinker. As Mariotti points out, Thoreau is a problematic figure for students of politics: at best, he is a marginal member of the political theory canon, known for his civil disobedience; at worst, he is a misanthropic, withdrawn hermit who scorned conventional politics (3). Mariotti raises a question that often confuses readers of Thoreau: How can Thoreau, who withdraws away from Main Street, into woods and. 21. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(24) huckleberry fields, be conceived of as a political thinker? This question captures the conflict between our predominant images of Thoreau (often melancholy and misanthropic, a passive dissenter, withdrawing into nature) and our most powerful images of politics (a public, intersubjective realm of positive action, based on engagement and participation). (4) Academic views of Thoreau’s political thought have fallen roughly into two camps: those who believe in Thoreau’s political significance and those who do not. The former downplay Thoreau’s hermitic propensities and emphasize his participatory. 政治大 denying his qualification as a political thinker and social commentator altogether 立. actions, while the latter see Thoreau more as a nature writer than a political thinker,. (Mariotti 4; Taylor 2).. ‧ 國. 學. 2.1.4 Double Marginalization: Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. ‧. Scholarly division regarding Thoreau’s political thought has remained. sit. y. Nat. remarkably stable over time (Taylor 2), leading to the double-marginalization of. al. er. io. “Civil Disobedience” in both the literary and political fields. It suffers marginalization. v. n. in literary studies, where the mainstream treats Thoreau as a nature writer, the author. Ch. engchi. i n U. of Walden, a hermit, and a Transcendentalist. The text also suffers marginalization in political studies, where political theorists diminish Thoreau as a second-rate thinker. They regard Thoreau as a minor contributor to the idea of civil disobedience, a man who offered no systemized political theories; in fact, in the political realm, references to civil disobedience are typically to the notion put forth by John Rawls in The Theory of Justice (1971), not to the concept developed by Thoreau. This doublemarginalization in literary and political studies further marginalizes Transcendentalist readings of Thoreauvian civil disobedience. Political scholars rarely discuss Transcendentalism, and literary scholars rarely address civil disobedience.. 22. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(25) 2.2 Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience in the Political Field Despite its disfavored status in academia, some political scholars still discuss Thoreauvian civil disobedience. Critics from different eras focus on different aspects of Thoreauvian civil disobedience. Their discourses over the past six decades can be divided into four phases: 1) concerns regarding the concept’s compatibility with the law in the 1960s; 2) doubts about the concept’s political practicality in the 1970s; 3) reestablishment of Thoreauvian political significance from the 1980s to the 1990s; and 4) more comprehensive reevaluations of Thoreauvian disobedience from the. 政治大 2.2.1 The 1960s: Is It Legal to 立Engage in Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience? 2000s to the 2010s.. ‧ 國. 學. In the 1960s, scholarly discussions focused on the legality of Thoreauvian civil disobedience. According to Howard Zinn’s Disobedience and Democracy and Hugo. ‧. Adam Bedau’s “Civil Disobedience and Personal Responsibility for Injustice,” two. sit. y. Nat. specific critics attacked Thoreauvian civil disobedience the most: Abe Fortas, an. al. er. io. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and Erwin N. Griswold, a prominently placed. v. n. legal spokesperson of the day. In 1968, the two sharply attacked the notion of civil. Ch. engchi. i n U. disobedience and asserted the importance of “law and order” (Zinn 5). Griswold writes that it is “illicit to violate otherwise valid laws either as a symbol of protest or in the course of protest” (Bedau 50). Fortas claims that “[e]ach of us owes a duty of obedience to law” (Zinn 11) and that civil disobedience is “never justifiable” (Zinn 44) because it is an “act of rebellion, not merely of dissent” (Zinn 53). Fortas even suggests that Thoreau’s essay “should not be read as a handbook on political science” (Zinn 24). Thus, Griswold and Fortas both staunchly criticized Thoreauvian civil disobedience, highlighting what they viewed as its problematic relationship to law and order.. 23. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(26) In response to these arguments, Zinn points out that Fortas’s overemphasis on the rule of law might lead to an idolization of law and a society “deaf to the rising cries for justice” (Zinn 23). He warns that, without moral philosophy and civil disobedience, politics becomes “merely a register of whatever regulations the politicians of the time have ordered” (Zinn 24). Bedau likewise disagrees with Fortas and Griswold and defends Thoreauvian civil disobedience. He describes “the FortasGriswold theory” as a belief that “a person remote from a social injustice can have little or no responsibility for it” (Bedau 52, 53). To combat this idea, Bedau proposes. 政治大 injustices on others unintentionally, unknowingly, or indirectly (58). Bedau points out 立 embracing “Thoreau’s Principle” that all people are responsible for inflicting certain. that Thoreau regarded the poll tax as participation in social injustice and the refusal of. ‧ 國. 學. the tax was a protest against “the systematic violation of others’ human rights” (52).. sit. y. Nat. but morally right.. ‧. In short, Bedau contends that Thoreauvian civil disobedience may be legally wrong,. al. er. io. 2.2.2 The 1970s: Is It Practical to Execute Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience?. v. n. In the 1970s, scholars including Rawls, Arendt, and Stanley Cavell were. Ch. engchi. i n U. primarily concerned with the practicality of Thoreauvian civil disobedience. As a political philosopher who treats civil disobedience as a means of accomplishing justice in society, Rawls regards civil disobedience as a “public, nonviolent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law usually done with the aim of bringing about a change in the law or policies of the government” (320). Rawls’s theory of civil disobedience does not include violent actions or private conscientious refusal grounded on conscience or religion; thus, for Rawls, Thoreauvian civil disobedience – done in private and based on conscience – is not an act of civil disobedience but only conscientious refusal. Likewise, Arendt claims that Thoreau’s political philosophy. 24. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(27) puts too much emphasis on conscience, which she describes as “unpolitical” (60), “purely subjective” (62), and difficult to carry out in political reality. In Jack Turner’s view, although Rawls and Arendt engage with Thoreau in their own ruminations on civil disobedience, in the end, they both denigrate his political significance (Turner 2). Contrary to Rawls and Arendt, in The Senses of Walden (1972), Cavell defends Thoreauvian civil disobedience as an effective expression of civil disobedience, pointing out that Thoreau published the article in public and thus met the requirement that Rawls and Arendt stipulate (Cavell 84).. 政治大 In the 1980s and 1990s, discussions 立 of Thoreauvian civil disobedience continued. 2.2.3 The 1980s-1990s: Is Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience Important?. ‧ 國. 學. Cavell’s emphasis on Thoreau’s politicization. George Kateb considers Thoreau a representative of a new and distinct form of democratic excellence (Kateb 337, 339).. ‧. In The Days of Henry Thoreau (1982), Walter Harding treats “Civil Disobedience” as. sit. y. Nat. Thoreau’s first political essay, claiming it anticipated a number of other significant. al. er. io. political works, such as “Slavery in Massachusetts” and the John Brown series (“A. v. n. Plea for Captain John Brown,” “The Last Days of John Brown,” “The Martyrdom of. Ch. engchi. i n U. John Brown” etc.). Harding writes that Thoreau’s political essays display “a progression of increased resistance to the state as an institution” (Harding 418). In “Civil Disobedience” (1849), Thoreau’s resistance is polite and consists of merely refusing to pay taxes; in “Slavery in Massachusetts” (1854), his resistance includes violation of a specific law, namely, the Fugitive Slave Law; and, in “A Plea for Captain John Brown” (1859), Thoreau begins to accept the possibility of violence (Harding 418). The fact that Thoreau’s attitude toward the use of violence began to shift led some critics to accuse him of inconsistency. In “Thoreau’s Radical Consistency” (1998), however, Shawn St. Jean defends Thoreau by claiming that he. 25. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(28) was morally consistent rather than rhetorically consistent. Affirming his political significance, Harding and St. Jean helped reestablish Thoreau as a politically important thinker. 2.2.4 The 2000s-2010s: Political and Unpolitical Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience From the 2000s to the 2010s, the strict boundary between the political and the unpolitical became increasingly blurred, and political scholars started to integrate considerations of Thoreau’s hermetic and individualistic side into their analyses. In “Standing ‘Aloof’ from the State: Thoreau on Self-Government” (2005), Ruth Lane. 政治大 brought government to the personal 立 level, so Thoreau brings politics there” (309). For claims that Thoreau provided a theory of individual self-government: “As he has. ‧ 國. 學. Lane, Thoreau was not an anarchist, but a model who exemplified a transition “from national self-government (“democracy”) to individual self-government” (302). Lane. ‧. asserts that this individual self-government is “deeply political” (303) because “the. sit. y. Nat. true frontier of democratic development is within the individual person” (303).. al. er. io. Praising Thoreauvian civil disobedience in “Quiet War with the State” (2005). Robert. v. n. A. Gross contends that the refusal to pay the poll tax was initially “a symbolic protest. Ch. engchi. i n U. against a national government” (7) that later transformed into “a personal declaration of independence” (8); Gross likens this “active resistance to oppression” (8) to what “the founders of Republic” (8) had done. In Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal (2010), Mariotti suggests that, for Thoreau, being a captain of a huckleberry party in “Civil Disobedience” was a way of practicing politics rather than an escape from politics (6). Acknowledging that Thoreau was unlikely to lead a mass protest, Mariotti suggests that, for Thoreau, daily activities (berry picking) became an alternative political practice in pursuit of social change (130-31). In short, in their analyses, Lane, Gross, and Mariotti embrace Thoreau’s more hermitic side as a brand of politics.. 26. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(29) 2.2.5 Review of Political Discussions of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience From the 1960s to the 1970s, scholars focused on the legitimacy and practicality of Thoreauvian disobedience, giving it a relatively unfriendly treatment. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, some scholars began to defend Thoreau as a political thinker, attempting to establish his political significance by highlighting his participation in politics. From the 2000s to the 2010s, political scholars began to deconstruct the dichotomous view of Thoreau as either a political thinker or a naturalist hermit; they accepted Thoreau’s withdrawal as a kind of political action. Scholarly evaluations of. 政治大 century. Thoreau has gone from being dismissed as a hermit with an impractical 立. Thoreauvian civil disobedience have thus changed dramatically during the past half-. philosophy to being viewed as a political writer who engaged in affirmative protest to,. ‧ 國. 學. finally, being acknowledged as a hermetic yet political thinker who embraced an. ‧. idealized brand of civic participation.. sit. y. Nat. 2.3 Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience in the Literary Field. al. er. io. Outside the political arena, literary scholars have engaged in relatively few. v. n. discussions of Thoreauvian civil disobedience. Existing literary explorations fall into. Ch. engchi. i n U. three categories: 1) those contending that Emerson has a great influence on Thoreauvian civil disobedience, 2) those asserting that Thoreauvian civil disobedience embodies Transcendentalism, and 3) those insisting that Thoreauvian civil disobedience enacts Transcendentalist Higher Law. 2.3.1 Emersonian Interconnectedness Philip F. Gura, Lawrence Buell, and Taylor trace Thoreauvian civil disobedience to Emersonianism, emphasizing various Emersonian ideas that, they contended, contributed to “Civil Disobedience.” In American Transcendentalism: A History (2007), Gura claims that Thoreau “took Emerson’s Romantic individualism to new 27. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(30) heights and integrated it practically into ethics” (Gura 225). In The American Transcendentalists (2006), Buell asserts that Thoreauvian civil disobedience “applied the principles of Emersonian Self-Reliance with a literalness and moral intensity that went beyond what even his mentor could then accept” (Buell 257). What Thoreau’s mentor – Emerson – could not accept then was Thoreau’s refusal to pay the state tax. In fact, in My Friend, My Friend: The Story of Thoreau’s Friendship with Emerson (1999), Harmon Smith points out that Emerson disagreed with Thoreau about violating the law as a means of protest, denouncing Thoreau’s behavior as “mean and. 政治大 Emerson and Thoreau still shared fundamental values; they were so similar to some 立 skulking, and in bad taste” (Smith 106). Despite their different practical methods,. extent that some critics even treat Thoreau as a disciple of Emerson and claim. ‧ 國. 學. “[Thoreau’s] ideas are all borrowed” (Taylor 54). For example, Taylor points out that. ‧. “Civil Disobedience” resembles Emerson’s “Politics,” only differing in that Thoreau. y. Nat. had “a personal story to tell about ‘resistance to civil government’” (55). In The. er. io. sit. Routledge Guidebook to Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience (2015), however, Taylor defends Thoreau, contending that his “originality is in the blending” (56) of some. al. n. v i n political ideas and opinions “found C in others’ earlier works” h e n g c h i U (56) and his own. incarceration experience, thereby making his essay unique and able to “resonate with a much wider audience” (56) than Emerson’s “Politics.” Taylor does not amplify or diminish Emerson’s influence on Thoreau but impartially points out that the two were “thinkers and writers [who grew] within an intellectual and artistic milieu, and all [borrowed] ideas that can be traced to others” (56). In short, critics have different opinions regarding Emerson’s influence on Thoreauvian civil disobedience: Gura acknowledges the presence of Emersonian individualism; Buell sees hints of Emersonian Self-Reliance; Taylor contends that Emerson and Thoreau influenced each other. All agree that the two writers’ political ideas and writings interconnect. 28. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(31) 2.3.2 Enacting the Transcendentalist Doctrines Barbara L. Packer, Christopher Lyle Johnstone, and Jennifer Powell affirm the role of the Transcendentalist principles in Thoreauvian civil disobedience and highlight the link between these principles and politically practical actions. In The Transcendentalists (2007), Packer points out that, the idealistic Transcendentalists always had trouble bridging “the gap between principle and action” (191). However, she maintains that Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” shows that, as long as people are willing to maintain the correct principles, the like-minded among them could create a. 政治大 they were outside the mainstream of human activity” (237), but the political 立. new world (Packer 191). During the 1840s, the Transcendentalists “often felt as if. indignities of the early 1850s “confirmed Emerson and Thoreau in their sense that. ‧ 國. 學. they had been right to insist on private integrity before all else” (231). They believed. ‧. that only through individual rectitude could citizens fight against and overcome “the. y. Nat. stupidity of government or the immorality of law” (231). Thoreau’s “Civil. er. io. sit. Disobedience” and the participation of many Transcendentalists in antislavery activities exemplify such morally upright behavior. In “Thoreau and Civil. al. n. v i n C(1974), Disobedience: A Rhetorical Paradox” points out that Thoreauvian U h e nJohnstone i h gc civil disobedience followed “the spiritual principles of Transcendentalism to their. socio-political conclusions” (315) and that Thoreau “transformed a moral obligation into a form of revolutionary political action” (319) – an action compatible with and extending from Transcendentalist principles. Likewise, in “Civil Disobedience and the Democratic Review” (2002), Powell contends that Thoreau “applied Transcendentalist principles in response to the growing debate over slavery in the Union” (174). She also claims that the Transcendentalists’ insistence on “direct action in order to bring about social change” (177) could be one of the factors that led to the outbreak of the Civil War. In short, Packer, Johnstone, and Powell reaffirm the 29. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(32) importance of Transcendentalism in the formation of Thoreauvian civil disobedience, insisting that the Transcendentalists enacted these spiritual doctrines in their time. 2.3.3 A Higher Law That Matters Edward H. Madden, Albert J. von Frank, and Walter Harding contend that Thoreau incorporates the core of the Transcendentalist Higher Law into the concept of civil disobedience. In The Days of Henry Thoreau, Harding elaborates the link between Higher Law and Thoreauvian civil disobedience as follows: “Civil Disobedience” is Thoreau’s most powerful and most influential. 政治大 there is a higher law 立than civil law – the law of conscience – and that. political essay. Its fundamental principle is the Transcendentalist one that. ‧ 國. 學. when these laws are in conflict, it is the citizen’s duty to obey the voice of God within rather than that of civil authority without. (Harding 207). ‧. In other words, Higher Law can be interpreted as conscience, which, Harding believes. sit. y. Nat. to be the core value of Thoreauvian civil disobedience. In Civil Disobedience and. al. er. io. Moral Law in Nineteenth-Century American Philosophy (1968), Madden equates the. v. n. Transcendentalist tenet with Higher Law and claims that “Thoreau pushed the. Ch. engchi. i n U. transcendental doctrine to its most extreme position, far beyond what the other followers of the High Law were willing to claim” (Madden 97). For example, even though he adhered to Transcendentalism, Emerson did not appreciate Thoreau’s intentional violation of civil law. In The Trials of Anthony Burns: Freedom and Slavery in Emerson’s Boston (1998), von Frank highlights the contribution of Transcendentalist Higher Law to abolitionism, claiming that the abolitionists’ belief in Higher Law “drew significantly from Transcendentalism” (von Frank 96). In short, these critics confirm that Transcendentalist Higher Law is a crucial component of Thoreauvian civil disobedience.. 30. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(33) 2.4 Review of the Literary Discussion of Thoreauvian Civil Disobedience Despite the relative scarcity of literary scholarship on Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” from a Transcendentalist perspective, some scholars connect the two in their research. Gura, Buell, and Taylor argue that Emerson’s Transcendentalist ideas – his notions of individualism and Self-Reliance, and, his political opinions – contributed to Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience. Regarding the enactment of Transcendentalist doctrines, Packer, Johnstone, and Powell assert that Thoreau’s faith in Transcendentalism inspired him to act. Packer argues that Thoreau’s “Civil. 政治大 principle and action; Johnson views civil disobedience as a form of political action 立 Disobedience” demonstrates how a Transcendentalist bridges the gap between. stemming from Transcendentalist principles; Powell believes that the. ‧ 國. 學. Transcendentalists’ insistence on action led to the Civil War. These critics affirm that. ‧. enacting Transcendentalist ideals was crucial for Thoreau. Madden, von Frank, and. y. Nat. Harding assert the importance of Higher Law in Thoreauvian civil disobedience.. er. io. sit. Harding sees Higher Law as the law of conscience; Madden treats Higher Law as the core of Transcendentalist principle; von Frank insists that the abolitionists’ faith in. al. n. v i n C h In short, in various Higher Law came from Transcendentalism. ways, these scholars engchi U link Transcendentalism with Thoreauvian civil disobedience, even though most of them only refer to it in passing without specifically clarifying the connections or offering detailed textual analyses. Nevertheless, they still point out approaches to Thoreauvian disobedience that do not merely frame it in terms of politics, and I believe their concepts warrant further investigation in this dissertation.. 31. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(34) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 32. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(35) Chapter 3 The New England Philosophy: Transcendentalism A product of its own specific religious and social conditions (Barbour 1), Transcendentalism was a uniquely American philosophical and religious movement that flourished from the 1830s through the 1860s and manifested itself in uniform ways (Habich and Nowatzki 89). Due to its elusiveness, defining Transcendentalism is a challenge for anyone attempting to cope seriously with the task of writing about it. 政治大. (Koster 1). Those associated with Transcendentalism were pressed to define the term. 立. in their own time. Emerson called it “Idealism as it exists in 1842” (Habich and. ‧ 國. 學. Nowatzki 89). William Henry Channing labeled it “a vague yet exalting conception of the godlike nature of the human spirit” (Habich and Nowatzki 89). Octavius Brooks. ‧. Frothingham described it as “a distinct philosophical system that was essentially. y. Nat. sit. poetical (Frothingham 136, 138). In Emerson Handbook, Frederic Ives Carpenter. n. al. er. io. defines it as “a reassertion of the mystical basis of all religion” and was therefore. i n U. v. “primarily religious rather than philosophical” (128-29). Beneath these diverse. Ch. engchi. interpretations lay a belief in the “immanence of God in man” (Goddard 122) – that the human soul can communicate directly with the divine. This belief leads to other important Transcendentalist tenets including: the doctrine of self-reliance and individualism, the identity of moral and physical laws, the essential unity of all religions, complete tolerance, the negative nature of evil, absolute optimism, disregard for all external authority and tradition. (Goddard 4) These recurring ideas permeated Transcendentalist works and “made a lasting impression on the American character” (Hochfield 35). Donald N. Koster even claims 33. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(36) that Transcendentalism set the tone – intellectual, moral, and spiritual – for an entire generation of Americans, and its impact “can be felt even to the present day” (Koster 1). Transcendentalist ideas about, for example, “self-reliance, the beauty of nature, and the importance of principled living” (Habich and Nowatzki 90) continue to inspire contemporary readers. 3.1 The Transcendental Club and the Transcendentalists This section provides background about the Transcendentalists and describes the formation of the Transcendental Club. The Transcendentalists were a group of. 政治大 Unitarianism, and German Idealism. 立 Through their regular meetings for theological, nineteenth-century New England intellectuals with ties to Harvard College,. ‧ 國. 學. philosophical, and literary discussions, they came to be known, collectively, as the Transcendental Club.. ‧. 3.1.1 The Transcendentalists. y. Nat. sit. Active in the mid-nineteenth-century New England, the Transcendentalists were. n. al. er. io. liberal thinkers from pedigreed families of greater Boston; many had ties to the. i n U. v. Unitarian1 church or many were also graduates of Harvard University, and most of. Ch. engchi. them had a distinct philosophical bent toward German Idealism. In Smith’s words, they were “Unitarian ministers, literary radicals and others with progressive leanings” (Smith 29). Emerson served as the “spokesman of Transcendentalism” (Koster 1). According to Gura, the Transcendentalists can be divided chronologically into two generations. Active from the 1830s to the 1840s, the first-generation Transcendentalists – Emerson, Thoreau, and many others2 – remain the movement’s According to Oxford English Dictionary, the term Unitarian refers to a “person who asserts the unity of God and rejects the doctrine of the Trinity.” Or, more specifically, a “member of a Church or religious body maintaining this belief and typically rejecting formal dogma in favor of a rationalist and inclusivist approach to belief” (OED). 2 According to Gura’s American Transcendentalism, the first-generation Transcendentalists included: i) Unitarian clergymen: Orestes Brownson, William Henry Channing, James Freeman Clarke, 1. 34. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(37) best-known representatives for contributing classic Transcendentalist works such as Nature and Walden. Active from the 1840s to the 1860s, the second-generation Transcendentalists included Frothingham and others3 who contributed historical biographies, criticism, and analyses. The two generations of Transcendentalists not only complemented each other in terms of literary contributions but also shared similar values. Gura reiterates Noah Porter’s notion that the Transcendentalists were alike “in their intellectual and moral dispositions, [and] their favorite philosophical and literary sympathies” (Gura 6) and therefore their “modes of thought and. 政治大 connection naturally led them to form a cadre: the Transcendental Club. 立. expression” (Gura 6) possessed a “strong family likeness” (Gura 6). This family-like. ‧ 國. 學. 3.1.2 The Transcendental Club. Initiated by Emerson, the Transcendental Club was an ever-shifting and open-. ‧. ended group of like-minded people who conducted occasional meetings between 1836. sit. y. Nat. and 1848, engaged in conversation, and shared inspiration (Gura 5; Cabot 249; Smith. al. er. io. 90). Like-minded as they were, they had different ideas about the name of their group.. v. n. Some participants were uncomfortable with the term Transcendental, believing it. Ch. engchi. i n U. implied “transcending common-sense, airy, flighty, ideal” (Goddard 6) in an uncomplimentary sense. Nonetheless, as Carpenter, Packer, and Goddard explain, the Transcendentalists eventually accepted the moniker with cheerful defiance. In “Transcendentalism,” Carpenter describes the Transcendentalists’ change in attitude regarding this label: “If Transcendentalism seemed sometimes vague and immaterial, Christopher Cranch, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederic Henry Hedge, Theodore Parker, George Ripley, Cyrus Bartol, Charles Timothy Brooks, John Sullivan Dwight, Convers Francis, William Henry Furness, William B. Greene, Samuel Robbins, Caleb Stetson, and Thomas T. Stone. ii) Prominent women: Elizabeth Peabody, Sophia Ripley, and Margaret Fuller. iii) Emerson’s protégés: Henry David Thoreau, Jones Very, William Ellery Channing, Charles King Newcomb and Charles Stearns Wheeler. 3 The second generation of Transcendentalists included David Wasson, John Weiss, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Longfellow, Moncure Conway, Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Franklin Sanborn. 35. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(38) it also seemed sometimes revolutionary and practical” (Carpenter 23). They were proud to be seen as revolutionary; they wanted to be “the renewers of spiritual life” (Packer 48) and the “prophet[s] and preacher[s]” (Goddard 196) who “exemplified their doctrines in pure and noble lives” (Goddard 199). In being transcendental, they regarded themselves as model revolutionary intellectuals. Some participants also took issue with the term Club, claiming they were likeminded rather than same-minded (Smith 29). For example, James Freeman Clarke asserted: “No two thought alike” (Gura 5); Frederic Henry Hedge claimed that they. 政治大 Smith, Habich and Nowatzki describe the Transcendental Club as a “loose 立. did not agree in all opinions but merely “in spirit” (Smith 29). Still, Gura, Packer,. confederation” (Gura 5; Habich and Nowatzki 90) and a “coterie affair” (Packer 48). ‧ 國. 學. that stably enabled the Transcendentalists to develop brilliant “idea[s], plan[s], or. sit. y. Nat. Transcendentalists served as the foundation for Transcendentalism.. ‧. project[s]” (Smith 31). The existence of the club and the efforts of the. al. er. io. 3.2 New England Transcendentalism. v. n. According to Goodman, Transcendentalism was an American literary, political,. Ch. engchi. i n U. and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered on Emerson. Frothingham claims that Transcendentalism received less attention in other countries but blossomed in and influenced daily American life: In Germany and France, there was a transcendental philosophy . . . but it never affected society in its organized institutions or practical interests. In old England, this philosophy influenced poetry and art, but left the daily existence of men and women untouched. But in New England, the ideas entertained by the foreign thinkers took root in the native soil and blossomed out in every form of social life. (Frothingham 105). 36. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(39) Goddard, Kenneth Walter Cameron, Carpenter, and Martin S. Day all agree that, unlike its counterparts in other countries, New England Transcendentalism had multiple dimensions. Goddard defines Transcendentalism as “a literary movement, a philosophy, and a religion all in one” (196). Cameron describes it as “a warm and intuitional religious, aesthetic, philosophical and ethical movement” (2). In “Transcendentalism,” Carpenter claims it was a four-faceted movement that integrated Kantian philosophy, Puritan religion, practical social reform, and an American literary renaissance (24). In “Renaissance in New England,” Day insists that. 政治大 Neo-Platonism, German idealistic philosophers, and Oriental mystical writings (81立. Transcendentalism derived its central ideas from Puritan New England, romanticism,. 82). From these descriptions, I select four crucial dimensions – the religious, the. ‧ 國. 學. philosophical, the literary, and the political – to elucidate the various dimensions of. ‧. Transcendentalism. The product of a specific time and place, Transcendentalism was. y. Nat. more than a singular event; it was a movement that, at its core, combined the Puritan. er. io. sit. religion, a label from and affinity for Kantian philosophy, a renaissance in American literature, and a political ethos that overlapped with abolitionism.. n. al. Ch. 3.2.1 Transcendentalism in Religion. engchi. i n U. v. Regarding whether Puritanism or German philosophy exerted more influence on the formation of New England Transcendentalism, Carpenter insists that the Transcendentalists “developed the religious idealism of their Puritan past primarily and only borrowed the forms and phrases of German thought secondarily” (26). Indeed, Transcendentalism’s origins were religious. Most of the Transcendentalists were “men of religion, both by training and by temperament” (Carpenter 26) and over half of them were Unitarian clergymen. The salient characteristics – a practical attitude, a simplified lifestyle, and a moral disposition – of seventeenth-century. 37. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(40) Puritans persisted in their nineteenth-century descendants, the New England Transcendentalists. 3.2.1.1. The Seventeenth-Century Puritan Forbearers. Puritanism exerted a significant influence on Transcendentalism. Goddard claims that the Transcendentalists “were Puritans to the core” (188). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Puritan specifically refers to “a group of English Protestants of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church under Elizabeth I as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of. 政治大 censorious moral beliefs” (OED). 立Goddard claims that the most visible Puritan. worship” (OED); more generally, the term Puritan also refers to individuals “with. ‧ 國. 學. features of Transcendentalism were “the sincerity, the purity, the moral heroism, the noble and unselfish adherence to an ideal” (189). Summarizing these notions, I. ‧. identify three salient characteristics of Puritanism: 1) practicality, 2) simplicity, and 3). sit. y. Nat. morality. First, Puritans believed in practical action. They pursued better lives by. al. er. io. sailing to an unknown land; after reaching America, their practicality enabled them to. v. n. survive and prosper within a short time. Second, Puritans favored simplicity. They not. Ch. engchi. i n U. only wanted to purify rituals but also to eliminate excess in all areas of life (clothing, food, entertainment, etc.). Third, Puritans emphasized personal morality. They aimed to demonstrate virtue by behaving morally, working hard, and living moderately. In short, the seventeenth-century Puritan ancestors of the Transcendentalists embraced practicality, simplicity, and morality. 3.2.1.2. The Nineteenth-Century Puritan Transcendentalists. Two hundred years later, the Puritan emphasis on living a practical, simplified, and moral life still influenced the Transcendentalists. First, despite how apparently impractical they were, almost all the Transcendentalists had stable incomes to support 38. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.

(41) themselves. According to Packer, in order to “speak truth habitually” (101), they acquired “not only a tough soul but also a steady income” (101). Emerson was a lecturer; Thoreau was a surveyor; Peabody owned a bookshop, and Brownson was a writer and an editor for a quarterly review (Packer 101). They were not unrealistic and quixotic idealists who shirked their worldly responsibilities; instead, they tried to balance the spiritual and material in practical ways. Second, the Transcendentalists advocated simplicity. The best example was Alcott Bronson’s Fruitland community experiment, which forbade animal products (meat, fish, butter, cheese, eggs, milk),. 政治大 (cotton). By eliminating all unnecessary goods, the Fruitlanders showed their 立. imported goods (tea, coffee, syrup, rice), and goods produced from slave-labor. willingness to live a simpler life. Third, the Transcendentalists were moral and eager. ‧ 國. 學. to undertake conscientious action to improve society. For example, Thoreau, Parker,. ‧. and Emerson advocated abolitionism; Fuller and Sophia Ripley championed women’s. y. Nat. rights; Alcott and Peabody pioneered educational reform (Habich and Nowatzki 90).. er. io. sit. In embracing practicality, simplicity, and morality, the Transcendentalists resembled their ancestors. Van Wyck Brooks connects them precisely: “They had returned, on. al. n. v i n another level, to the mental habits ofCtheir Pilgrim forbears” h e n g c h i U (Brooks 187; Koster 12). 3.2.1.3. Puritan Heritage as the Indigenous Influence. While many critics believe that the ideas of the New England Transcendentalist were “importations, not native American growths” (Miller 64), Goddard, Perry Miller, and George Willis Cooke insist that Transcendentalism’s Puritan legacy was indigenously American. Goddard writes: “The Puritan blood was still within their veins. Transcendentalism was a gospel” (191). In the introduction to The Poets of Transcendentalism, Cooke argues that it would be “unjust to regard it as an importation from Europe” (3) because, she asserts, “Transcendentalism was native to. 39. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.001.2018.A09.