1. Describe Emerson’s idea of self-reliance in your own words. To what extent do you agree or disagree with his philosophy? Would you consider yourself to be self-reliant and to what degree? a. Emerson’s idea about self-reliance is doing what makes you happy and not worrying about what people will think of you; alsfheo doing things individually. In the passage, he says that every person has the potential for accomplishing amazing things without the negative effect of society; this is accomplished through the power of self-belief. Emerson also talked about how people should not follow the rules (not in a rebellious display) in order to express individualism. Regarding these beliefs, I side with Emerson because I believe that people should be themselves and not allow society to tell them how to act. On the …show more content…
Would Emerson 's ideas as expressed in this essay result in a stronger or weaker government? More or less democracy? a. His thoughts would result in a weaker government because it would have less democracy. Emerson would like all the people to become more independent because if they follow the rules, they will become a slave to the laws. His main idea here was to not abide by society’s ways because conforming to society would be submitting to the government, which sets the standards of beliefs and the behaviors of society. Because it goes against Emerson’s ideas of opposition to the mainstream ways, he would want less democracy because a democracy is a group that is indirectly controlled by the agreed majority. 5. Was Emerson a liberal or conservative -- and in what ways? a. Emerson, in my opinion, was mostly a conservative because the beliefs of this political view support the solving of problems by a single person. He emphasized this through the display of independent decision making. Emerson was the author of “Self-Reliance” and one of the main morals, which was clearly shown in the text, of a conservative person is the importance of obligations to