transcendentalism Hear it!

transcendentalism definition

tran·scen·den·tal·ism (-iz′əm)

noun

  1. any of various philosophies that propose to discover the nature of reality by investigating the process of thought rather than the objects of sense experience: the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, and Fichte are examples of transcendentalism
  2. ☆ by extension, the philosophical ideas of Emerson and some other 19th-cent. New Englanders, based on a search for reality through spiritual intuition
  3. popularly any obscure, visionary, or idealistic thought

Etymology: < 18th-c. Ger transcendentalismus: see transcendental & -ism

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.