Platonism in practice: The American transcendental rhetorics of Emerson, Thoreau, and Alcott

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dc.contributor.advisorFehler , Brian
dc.contributor.committeeMemberLitton, Alfred
dc.contributor.committeeMemberWest, Genevieve
dc.creatorAllison, Kimberly
dc.date.accessioned2023-02-22T20:41:56Z
dc.date.available2023-02-22T20:41:56Z
dc.date.created2022-12
dc.date.issued2022-12-01T06:00:00.000Z
dc.date.submittedDec-22
dc.date.updated2023-02-22T20:41:57Z
dc.description.abstractAmerican Transcendentalism has often been noted for sharing characteristics with Platonism. While there has been a substantial amount of research done on the influence of Platonism, I take a different approach by exploring the Platonic nature of the American Transcendentalist beliefs of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Amos Bronson Alcott through the lens of Lloyd Gerson’s argument he coins as “Ur-Platonism (UP),” which he details in his book titled, From Plato to Platonism. Instead of supporting major shifts in Platonic thought, such as Middle Platonism or Neoplatonism, Gerson argues the framework of Platonism has remained the same. He describes the framework as the UP Pillars of Platonism, with the five antis of Antimaterialism, Antimechanism, Antinominalism, Antirelativism, Antiskepticism representing the pillars. In my research, I situate American Transcendentalism alongside Gerson’s UP in order to present an alternate guiding idea in the Platonic tradition.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11274/14469
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectPlatonism
dc.subjectAmerican transcendentalism
dc.subjectEmerson
dc.subjectThoreau
dc.subjectAlcott
dc.titlePlatonism in practice: The American transcendental rhetorics of Emerson, Thoreau, and Alcott
dc.typeDissertation
dc.type.materialtext
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Arts and Sciences
thesis.degree.departmentEnglish, Speech, and Foreign Languages
thesis.degree.grantorTexas Woman's University
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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