The Rooting Of James'pragmatism In Emerson's Thought

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803～1882) was a great thinker, lecturer, writer and poet in American history. He was the leader and soul of New England Transcendentalism Movement in the 19th century in America. His views of transcendentalism, which led to reform movement in the aspects concerning philosophy, literature, religion and society,has been long taken as the most important American secular religion and therefore, gave rise to the liberation of the Americans'ideas and opened up the road of American Renaissance. As a result, Emerson has been thought highly of as the leader of American Renaissance. The great president, Abraham Lincoln, gave lots of good names to Ralph Waldo Emerson generously and praised him as Confucius of the United States, the Father of American Civilization and the prophet of American spirit. Emerson was also the representative figure who played a crucial role in the formation and establishment of the independent cultural spirit of the United States indeed. Moreover, Emerson has also been deemed as the pioneer of the American pragmatism, for his thoughts had a tremendous impact upon the shaping of William James's philosophy of pragmatism!William James (1842~1910) is not only the founder of American pragmatism which was the only homemade American philosophy, but also the founder of the Harvard philosophy and the pioneer of the American philosophies! His philosophical views of pragmatism emphasized life, action and effect, which laid an immense, positive and far-reaching impact upon the development and progress in various fields ranging from the American society, politics, education, religion to art. Former Secretary of the United State, Henry Kissinger once said,"Pragmatism is actually the American spirit, and the American leadership is the bureaucratic-pragmatic leadership. The American realistic attitude, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering spirit are all nurtured by pragmatism."[1]My thesis chiefly studied the main contents of Emerson's transcendentalism and James's pragmatism and the historical backdrop of the formation of their thoughts. In order to find out the linking and relationship between their thoughts, and to fully discuss the meaning of the Title as well, a relatively detailed analysis and comparison of Emerson's and James's thoughts was carefully carried out in this thesis. The main body of the whole article is divided into six chapters elaborately. The first chapter is the introduction of the article. The second chapter briefly introduced Emerson's and James's life experiences together with their major works and thoughts as well. In the third chapter, the social and historical background of the formation of Emerson's transcendentalism and James's pragmatism were put together, analyzed and compared closely so as to further demonstrates that Emerson and his thought produced an important pre-guiding influence upon James and his philosophy of pragmatism, and to expound that both of their thoughts were the products of the unique social and historical spirit in 19th-century America and the origin of their thoughts shared the consistency to a great extent. The fourth chapter focused on their view of life, particularly concerning their outlook upon individual and education, further argued that the seeds of James's pragmatism has long been brewing and sprouting in Emerson's thoughts of transcendentalism already. After a careful and comprehensive analysis and comparison studies of their views on religious belief and the pursuit of spiritual life, the fifth chapter revealed the truth that Emerson's theological thoughts laid a indelible and far-reaching impact on the shaping of James's religious concern as a clear result. The last chapter is the conclusion of the thesis.Although William James and his philosophy of pragmatism have been enjoying a long-standing lofty reputation and prestige, in fact, James himself and his pragmatic ideas was influenced by the thoughts of Emerson's transcendentalism to a great extent. Emerson's thoughts have been long regarded as a treasure of the American democratic consciousness, which had an indelible and far-reaching impact upon the establishment of the independent national spirit, the development of democratic consciousness and the shaping of an independent national character. Therefore, Emerson is quite worthy of the laudatory name of Americans' Heart-Master!...