HAL Dialectic Chart: Puritanism-Transcendentialism

Different Categories Over the Three Time periods: Puritanism, Enlightenment, and Romanticism/Transcendentialism

Puritanism Prime Mover/Authority

God: All powerful

Puritanism Nature

• Often hostile

• Source of temptation

Puritanism Medium of Truth

• Faith applied to the Bible

• Typology

Puritanism Sensation of truth

ravished by God

Puritanism human nature

innately depraved

Puritanism Source of Evil

Corrupted will and reason

Puritanism Individuals Will

Partially Free: Covenant of Grace

Puritanism Individual responsibility

• “errand into the wilderness”

• serve and glorify God

• cultivate faith

Puritanism Social Responsibility

• align private and public desires

• be pious to help society materially and spiritually (“city upon a hill”)

Puritanism Introspection

Constant evaluation of grace

Puritanism Emphasis of existence

Afterlife

Puritanism Quintessential individual

preacher, saint

Puritanism Quintessential Setting

Church

Puritanism Individual vs. society

individual < society

Puritanism Nature vs. Civilization

nature < civilization

Puritanism Ideal vs. real

“Fact could be made one with the ideal” in present

Puritanism Spiritual vs. rational

spritual

Enlightenment Prime Mover/Authority

Watchmaker: detached

Enlightenment Nature

• “Bible of the creation”

• mechanistic

• source of virtue

Enlightenment Medium of Truth

Reason applied to nature, analogy

Enlightenment Sensation of Truth

Observation

Enlightenment Human Nature

Perfectible

Enlightenment Source of Evil

Ignorance; passions

Enlightenment Individual’s will

free

Enlightenment Individual’s responsibility

• “errand into society”

• perform good works; cultivate reason

Enlightenment Social Responsibility

• Enlighten self to instruct society

• Be virtuous to help society materially

• Apply nature”s rational principles to social institutions

Enlightenment Introspection

• Rational

• Dispassionate analysis of virtue

Enlightenment Emphasis of existence

present (rewards and punishments deemphasized)

Enlightenment Quintessential Individual

philosopher; scientist

Enlightenment Quintessential setting

laboratory

Enlightenment Individual vs. society

individual = society

Enlightenment Nature vs. civilization

nature < civilization

Enlightenment Ideal vs. real

Ideal is achievable in future

Enlightenment Spiritual vs. rational

rational

Transcendentalism Prime Mover/Authority

• Oversoul: organizing force

• not anthropomorphic

Transcendentalism Nature

• Living Scripture

• Benevolent and dynamic

• Source of truth

Transcendentalism Medium of Truth

Reason applied to nature; theory of correspondence

Transcendentalism Sensation of Truth

Transparent eyeball; skylight

Transcendentalism Human Nature

• Divine, but needs to be awakened

• “Part or particle of God”; golden orb

Transcendentalism Source of Evil

Non existent, but “sleep” delays ecstasy

Transcendentalism Individual’s will

partially free: lose private self to universal self

Transcendentalism Individual responsibility

• “Saunter into the wilderness”

• “errand to mankind”

• cultivate self-reliance

Transcendentalism social responsibility

• free self to awaken society

• be sovereign to help society spiritually

• apply nature’s organic principles to social institution

Transcendentalism Introspection

Constant evaluation of transcendence

Transcendentalism Emphasis of existence

eternity in the present (live for the present)

Transcendentalism Quintessential individual

• Poet-priest

• artist

• scholar

• naturalist

• saunterer

Transcendentalism Quintessential setting

woods

Transcendentalism Individual vs. society

individual > society

Transcendentalism Nature vs. civilization

nature > civilization

Transcendentalism Ideal vs. real

ideal is achievable, but only temporary

Transcendentalism Spiritual vs. rational

spiritual

Puritanism Time Period

1630-1700

Enlightenment Time Period

1700-1800

Am. Renaissance/Romanticism/Transcendentalism Time Period

1820-1860