Bruce Kuklick
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199260164
- eISBN:
- 9780191597893
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199260168.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Thinkers unconnected to institutions were the most lively and creative thinkers in the US for much of the nineteenth century. These ‘amateurs’ were more willing to adopt untraditional, usually ...
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Thinkers unconnected to institutions were the most lively and creative thinkers in the US for much of the nineteenth century. These ‘amateurs’ were more willing to adopt untraditional, usually German, ideas; and they moved more quickly to modern, secular ideas. The most important of these thinkers were James Marsh of Vermont, who introduced Kantian ideas into America; Ralph Waldo Emerson, the leading Transcendentalist; Connecticut minister Horace Bushnell, who followed Nathaniel William Taylor in remaking the theology of New England and leading it to figurative and metaphorical interpretations of the Bible; John Williamson Nevin and Philip Schaff of the Mercersburg Seminary in Pennsylvania, who meditated on an organicist Protestant theology; and The St Louis Hegelians.Less
Thinkers unconnected to institutions were the most lively and creative thinkers in the US for much of the nineteenth century. These ‘amateurs’ were more willing to adopt untraditional, usually German, ideas; and they moved more quickly to modern, secular ideas. The most important of these thinkers were James Marsh of Vermont, who introduced Kantian ideas into America; Ralph Waldo Emerson, the leading Transcendentalist; Connecticut minister Horace Bushnell, who followed Nathaniel William Taylor in remaking the theology of New England and leading it to figurative and metaphorical interpretations of the Bible; John Williamson Nevin and Philip Schaff of the Mercersburg Seminary in Pennsylvania, who meditated on an organicist Protestant theology; and The St Louis Hegelians.
Bruce Kuklick
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199260164
- eISBN:
- 9780191597893
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199260168.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the American speculative system composed of divinity school theologians, college philosophers, and amateurs was revolutionized. The amateurs vanished as a ...
More
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the American speculative system composed of divinity school theologians, college philosophers, and amateurs was revolutionized. The amateurs vanished as a creative force, as did the theologians. The victors were the philosophers, who emerged in the new university system as the only spokesmen for speculative thought. Guided by their interest in the ideas of Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill's criticism of Sir William Hamilton, and the Higher Criticism of the Bible, the philosophers left behind a robust Protestantism and focused on the practices of the men of science in the new universities.Less
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the American speculative system composed of divinity school theologians, college philosophers, and amateurs was revolutionized. The amateurs vanished as a creative force, as did the theologians. The victors were the philosophers, who emerged in the new university system as the only spokesmen for speculative thought. Guided by their interest in the ideas of Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill's criticism of Sir William Hamilton, and the Higher Criticism of the Bible, the philosophers left behind a robust Protestantism and focused on the practices of the men of science in the new universities.
