Read this excerpt from Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance” and decide whether it is biased. Explain your answer as well as what you
can conclude from this excerpt. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,—that is genius. . . Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribeto assign; credit to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naughtnone; no books and traditions, and spoke not what men, but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within. . . . Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
In this excerpt, Emerson is in favor of, and stresses the importance of, individual intellect and moral development. He urges readers to look within—into their inner selves to seek inspiration and attain self-reliance rather than imitating others or adopting age-old ideas, which society has practiced over time. He uses examples of great thinkers such as Moses, Milton, and Plato, who thought for themselves and didn’t let society and established ideas influence them. Emerson further stresses that people should not dismiss their own ideas, only to discover them in others’ works, but learn to nurture and accept their potential. When people are able to accept and trust their own thoughts, they will be able to come up with ideas as brilliant and original as those of any wise man.
