The American Scholar

"The American Scholar" is a lecture delivered by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837. In this address, Emerson challenged the Harvard intelligentsia, advocating for a new kind of intellectual who is liberated from pedantry, imitation, and traditionalism. He emphasized the importance of scholarship that is directly connected to life experiences and personal intuition. Emerson's lecture was a significant manifesto for the Transcendentalist movement, urging intellectuals to trust their inner selves and to express their unique perspectives rather than conforming to established norms. The lecture is considered a foundational text for American intellectual thought, promoting self-reliance and original inquiry.1

"The American Scholar" is also the name of a quarterly journal founded in 1932, described as "a quarterly for the independent thinker," edited by the united chapters of Phi Beta Kappa.2