Exercise 3.1

Can you see a connection between Emerson’s remarks and the view expressed by Searle in Chapter One? Where do their views overlap and where do they differ?

Ralph Waldo Emerson	Similarities	John Searle
Two things make up the world; Human history – (artefacts) and natural phenomena. The passage of time illustrates that nature is static and the culture of humans is trans-formative.	There is a natural world that exists and would exist regardless of humanity’s existence.	There are portions of the world that exist due to human agreement (objective facts such as money and nations) and portions of the world that exist regardless of humans (brute facts -the natural world e.g rivers, mountains)
‘Art’ is defined as the uses humans make of ‘nature’. “Nature, in the common sense, refers to essences unchanged by man; space, the air, the river, the leaf. Art is applied to the mixture of his will with the same things, as in a house, a canal, a statue, a picture.” (Emerson, 1883)	There is a definite distinction between nature and the man made world /reality.	Social reality is constructed by us to serve our purposes.
Nature is not constructed by humans but it is expressed through them. Man is the ‘transparent eyeball’ viewing unity of nature and self. A spirit/energy eminates throughout the universe. Art as a means of ‘revelation’ – artist as prophet or seer. (Allen & Handley 2018)		Consciousness is a biological and physical consequence of evolution.
Natural facts are seen as symbols of spiritual facts. Nature is a metaphor of the human mind.
Outer creation (nature) gives us language for the inner creation (the soul). ‘Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.’ Nature and not humans form the true basis for morality.	Language is important for humanity.	Institutional facts are language dependent. The development of language in the human species allowed us to create words that represented and symbolised something. Formulation of words (and language) allowed for dependent and independent thought that then allowed for discussion and agreement.

Reflections

Both writers deemed that there is a distinct separateness between the natural world and the human world. Searle focused his analysis on the ‘brute’ facts (rivers, mountains) and the ‘institutional’ facts that allow humans to create objective realities within their culture (e.g money, class systems, national borders etc). Emerson, writing in the first half the 19th Century separated the two by looking at the artefacts of human history and how the passage of time showed nature and not culture to be immutable.

Both writers discussed human language and its relation to social reality. Searle looks at this logically and rationally by following the development of human language that allowed for conscious thought and therefore discussion and agreement on social constructs. Emerson, writing prior to Darwin’s theory of evolution, discusses how reality, expressed though language, is a reflection of the language of nature. Emerson looks at language poetically and metaphorically.

“Every appearance in nature corresponds to some state of the mind, and that state of the mind can only be described by presenting that natural appearance as its picture. An enraged man is a lion, a cunning man is a fox, a firm man is a rock, a learned man is a torch. A lamb is innocence; a snake is subtle spite; flowers express to us the delicate affections. Light and darkness are our familiar expression for knowledge and ignorance; and heat for love.”

(Emerson, 1836)

Emerson appears to have an idealistic and transcendental viewpoint wheras Searle’s is more realistic. I particularly like the fact that he acknowledges that man is actually a part of nature, ‘nature is expressed through humans’, and that man should experience that unity or ‘oneness’. This feels very reminiscent of eastern Buddhist philosophy.

Bibliography

Emerson, R.W. (1836) Nature At https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/nature.html (Accessed 01/02/2020)

Emerson, R. W (1834) The Naturalist Delivered to the Boston Natural HIstory Society, 7 May, 1934. At https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/naturalist.html (Accessed 01/02/2020)

Searle, J. R (1995) ‘The Construction of Social Reality’ London: Penguin books.