Blog One

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland (Dorbolo). Jon Dorbolo describes Douglass as "a man possessed of exceptional intelligence and perception (Dorbolo). His philosophy is that he thinks slavery is horrible and he thinks it should be abolished. His writings show the horror of slavery.

Ralph Waldo Emerson believes that all things exist in a flowing way (Brewton). He strongly believes in self reliance and independence. He believes that originality is truly just a bunch of pieces of information from other sources coming together (Brewton). I think that that is true. Nothing is truly original these days. Everything is an idea from an idea from an idea. Being original is obsolete.

Both of these men believe in independence. They seem to both believe that along the journey of life, people should learn from experiences (Brewton). For example, in Frederick Douglass' work he writes "Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body?" (Douglass).

These men disagree on where this independence and soul searching should come from. Emerson believed that you should develop through your soul while Douglass thought you should develop through your mind (Dorbolo). For example, Douglass references the soul searching when he is talking about freedom and the fourth of july, "...I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul.." (Douglass).

Emerson believed that you should do what you do for yourself and not for other people. He believed that no one should care about what other people think (Brewton). I think that Douglass did care what other people think because he wanted everyone to be against slavery. In his essay "The Meaning of July Fourth to the Negro," he talks about how against slavery he is. He tries to expose the horrible ethics of slavery. Even though his writing is dark, he ends on a bright note. Douglass wrote "No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light" (Douglass). I think that Emerson could learn to look on the bright side like Douglass did. Emerson seemed to just hate on everything, while Douglass ended with two paragraphs of good that the world has done.

Dorbolo, Jon. "Great Philosophers: Frederick Douglass." Oregon State University. 2002. Web. 04 Feb. 2012.

Brewton, Vince. "Emerson, Ralph Waldo [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 04 Feb. 2012

Douglass, Frederick. "Africans in America/Part 4/Frederick Douglass Speech." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 04 Feb. 2012.