The Radical of The American Scholar

Abstract

The Radical of The American Scholar Arido Laksono Abstract Essay, as a literary genre, reveals the fact based on the personal point of view of the author as a result of the thinking process. The American Scholar is one of Emerson's famous essays, which is considered radical. It criticizes the American people in the first half of the 19th century. Emerson explains the strength of the human intellectuality to act and create his own life without relying on others. Man must be the "Man Thinking" in order to understand all the phenomena in this world. Hence, there are three important points in Emerson’s thought that can be considered as the greatest influence on the intellectual development of human; nature and its influence, the book as an influential element of the past, and action as a result of the thinking process. Keywords: “Man Thinking”, process of thinking, intellectual movement