Politics (essay) Politics (essay) "Politics" is an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is part of his "Essays: Second Series", published in 1844. A premier philosopher, poet and leader of American transcendentalism, he used this essay to belie his feelings on government, specifically American government. His impact on New England thought and his views on pragmatism influenced the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Orestes Brownson, and Frederich Nietzsche, among others. Although not viewed as his most important essay in the second series, Emerson’s views on politics championed democracy and individualism, two ideas that are viewed today as undoubtedly American. By 1844,
Individualism Old and New Individualism Old and New Individualism Old and New is a politically and socially progressive book by John Dewey, an American philosopher, written in 1930. Written at the beginning of the Great Depression, the book argues that the emergence of a new kind of American individualism necessitates political and cultural reform to achieve the true liberation of the individual in a world where the individual has become submerged. Most of the chapters originally appeared as a series of essays in The New Republic, in 1929-1930. Dewey argues that America has become a socially corporate materialistic society which has been consumed by