Ralph Waldo Emerson · Philosophy

The American Scholar: Man Thinking

Emerson’s 1837 call for American intellectual independence - the vision of the true scholar as ‘Man Thinking’ rather than a bookworm parroting the past, educated by nature, books, and action, and charged with the duty of self-trust.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Emerson’s scholar in his true state is ‘Man Thinking’ (not a mere thinker or the ‘parrot of other men’s thinking’), educated by nature, books, and action; that ‘books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst’; and that the scholar&rsquo…

Leads to Michel de Montaigne.

epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.