The American Scholar

Emerson begins this lecture by explaining that through his professions, man begins to lose what makes him a Man.  For example, rather than being a Man on the farm, a man would merely be a farmer.  When a man’s profession is a scholar, he should aim to be Man Thinking rather than a mere thinker.  Emerson lists three things, in order of importance, that a scholar must do in order to become Man Thinking.

            First, the main influence on the mind should be the study of nature.  Second, man should study books, but he should only study books as a way to study the past. Thought shouldn’t arise from books, and colleges should not be built upon them. Emerson believes that, “[books] are for nothing but to inspire. … They look backward and not forward. But genius looks forward: the eyes of man are set in his forehead, not his hindhead…” (p. 56).  Emerson thinks that someone who only studies the books that a person wrote is just a bookworm rather than Man Thinking.  Third, the scholar should actually take action and experience life.  “The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action past by, as a loss of power. … If it were only for a vocabulary, the scholar would be covetous of action.  Life is our dictionary,” (p. 57).  In other words, Man Thinking should not study books in order to memorize someone else’s ideas.  The true scholar will form his own thoughts by observing nature for himself and using books for inspiration.  Then, he must actually live and experience his thoughts.

            When the scholar does these three things, he becomes Man Thinking and gains self-trust.  With self-trust, Man Thinking believes in his own ideas.  Also, the duty of the scholar is to inspire thinking and self-trust in other men.  So basically the duty of the scholar is to inspire every man to be Man Thinking.  Self-trust allows a person to be free and brave to know that he is right.  Emerson believes that the scholars of that time were “decent, indolent, complaisant,” (pg. 59).  So, Emerson challenges the American Scholar to be Man Thinking rather than just mere thinkers.

-Alex Quagge