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Position:Home>Philosophy> Help analyzing a quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson!?Question: Help analyzing a quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson!!? Ok so can anyone help me to give me your own opinion of what this quote means!.
:"To believe your own thought , to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men -- that is genius!." I need to know whether you agree or not and what do you think it means!Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I would have to strongly disagree with it!. Belief and knowledge are NOT the same thing, and what is "true" for one person most certainly may not be "true" for another!. Knowledge can be independently verified, and IS true for all people; this is because it is a part of reality!. Beliefs, more often than not, have no way of being proven or verified!. If they could be, we wouldn't have the staggeringly vast number of different religious, political, and moral views that we have today!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I studied the transcendentalist in my youth and found their words pleasing!. In my older years I find them to be on a fools errant!. I don't agree with Emerson's idea that our private beliefs determine what is true for everyone and I don't think it genius!. I would be more likely to think it the source of fanaticism!. The transcendentalists were seeking God in nature and society and I don't think they found any of the three!. But it was an early attempt at originality in America and they only had hell and brimstone preachers to model from!. At least they were an improvement over that nonsense!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Yes, I agree with it and it basically means believe in yourself and what your heart tells you!. And understand that others have to do that, too!. Emerson was a very independent thinker for his time, he spoke out against slavery, for example!. If you keep in mind that he was a man working against the bad habits of his time the quote (and lots of his works) make more sense, for one had to have inner strength to do such a thing!. He also said, "make the most of yourself for that is all there is of you!."Www@QuestionHome@Com Yes I think I agree!. Genius is not a number on an IQ test, it is just believing in yourself, and believing in others!. Thats seems kinda right, but it may be that deep down we are all alike and noone should be discriminated against, to see that is genius!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |