Transcendentalism

Blog – Given today’s discussion, was Eustace a Transcendentalist? Gilbert does comment on this. Do you agree with her interpretation?

Eustace Conway is many things, but a transcendentalist is certainly not one of them. I agree with Gilbert that Eustace is not a transcendentalist any more than he could be considered a hippie. While at a first glance many would mistake him for a transcendentalist (or hippie) it soon becomes apparent that Eustace is nothing of the sort, though what sort he is of remains unclear. Eustace’s philosophy revolves around action more than ideas; the transcendentalist’s philosophy revolves around ideas more than action. At the center of Eustace’s philosophy is competence to carry out those actions. At the center of the transcendentalist’s philosophy is nature. Eustace might agree more with the transcendentalist’s philosophies of god outside the confines of organized religion. The idea that all men should decide on their own religion and ideas certainly is one of the philosophies of transcendentalism that Eustace accepted and practiced. Despite that, Eustace is definitely not a transcendentalist.