Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays--First and Second Series
Reading notes--Adam Kissel
NEW ENGLAND REFORMERS
pp. 400-23 (Riverside edn. = R, 249-85)
[published with the Second Series but not originally intended by
Emerson to stand with the rest]
on the din of reform and nonconformist reformers, 400-03
education reform, 404-06
things, not just words, not just dead languages (mostly
useless and unused); classics themselves ok
education aims too lows, 411-12;
educated fails when it educates the mind without the man,
412-13
education should move people from “man drunk” to “man sober,”
413
growing trust in the philosophy of self-reliance is the right spirit for the
new philosophy
first renovate yourself, 407
the realism of the world makes all reforms seem small and useless in comparison
to idealism, 407-08
as is, concerted force is no better or worse than individual force, 408-10;
true concert could work, however, when a mass of individuals
work together as such, 410-11
men are better than they seem, 414-16; they aspire, 416-17; they love truth,
418; and fidelity, 419
men are not totally depraved [per some Calvinists], 418