Emerson's enduring reputation, however, is as a philosopher, an aphoristic writer (like Friedrich Nietzsche) and a quintessentially American thinker whose championing of the American Transcendental movement and influence on Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, William James, and others would alone secure him a prominent place in American cultural history.

Emerson is often characterized as an idealist philosopher and indeed used the term himself of his philosophy, explaining it simply as a recognition that plan always precedes action.

Contents:

History

Self-Reliance

Compensation

Spiritual Laws

Love

Friendship

Prudence

Heroism

The Over-Soul

Circles

Intellect

Art

Nature

American Scholar