Transcendentalism The Philosophy Of The Mind Essay — страница 2

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humans are shut up in their minds and must interpret everything. He believed that space and time are not realities existing by themselves, but are ways the mind has of receiving and shaping sensations. Kant stated, “Take away the thinking subject, and the entire corporeal world will vanish, for it is nothing but the appearance in the sensibility of our subject.” To the thinkers who followed Kant the most logical solution to the problem of mind and matter was to eliminate matter. The mind seemed evident but matter had to be interpreted as something other than and outside of the mind (Frost 243). Transcendentalists believe many ideas come from the mind itself, not from experience. They believe that these ideas of the mind are a very important part of life. An anonymous pamphlet

(many believe to be written by Charles Mayo Ellis), An Essay on Transcendentalism, says, “Transcendentalism maintains that man has ideas that come not through the five senses, or the power of reasoning; but are either the result of direct revelation from God, his immediate inspiration, or his immanent presence in the spiritual world.” The transcendentalists called the spiritual body within the physical body the oversoul, the conscience, or the inner light (Encyclopedia 3). Kant says the mind is like a bowl with many crevices and depressions in it’s contour. When one pours water into the bowl, it takes the shape of the bowl, filling all the crevices. In the same way the environment pours impressions into the mind and they are received by the mind and shaped according to the

nature of this mind (Frost 257). Some transcendentalists think all minds are alike. They say all minds have certain categories such as totality, unity, plurality, and reality. Transcendentalists believe knowledge is limited to the combined role of sensibility and understanding, both of which are concerned with sense and experience, though in different ways (Hakim 98). They also think knowledge is universal (Frost 258). Some transcendentalists think the ideas are of the mind and cannot be applied to a world outside of the mind. They believe ideas are a result of the kind of thinking organ which people have, and are determined by it’s nature. Transcendentalism is a combination of beliefs, some of which are from other religions and other people and their philosophies. It is a

belief that there is another way knowledge is obtained, not only from the senses, but also from the mind.