transcendentalism (philosophy)

transcendentalism in philosophy, term descriptive of systems that hold that there are modes of being and principles of existence beyond the reach of mundane experience and manipulation. The term is now closely associated with Kantian theory, although some conception of transcendent being has been common to most forms of philosophical idealism. Kant argues that perception of sense data depends on a priori intuitions, which include conception of space and time and categories of judgment. For Kant, "transcendental" refers to conditions necessary for the possibility of experience, while "transcendent" refers to a noumenon , something unknowable and beyond the realm of possible experience.

transcendentalism School of philosophy that traced its origin to the idealism of Immanuel Kant. It concerned itself not with objects, but with our mode of knowing objects. It spread from Germany to England, where Samuel Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle came under its influence. In the mid-19th century, it spread to the USA, where its proponents included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In general, it emphasized individual (as opposed to collective) moral and spiritual responsibilities and rejected materialism, returning to nature for spiritual guidance.