1995, Jul, Emerson and Dewey on Natural Piety

8/13/2019 1995, Jul, Emerson and Dewey on Natural Piety

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Emerson and Dewey on Natural PietyP. Eddy Wilson / Shaw University

Today manyfind themselves to be alienated from a

religionwith a

strongtextual tradition and in rebellion against the idea of a transcendent deity.In the nineteenth century, Friedrich Nietzsche said, it is in one particu-lar interpretation [of distress], the Christian moral one, that nihilism isrooted. Rather than simply abandoning religion, some, convinced byNietzsche's analysis, have sought to combat nihilism by turning to otherreligious resources. Two American philosophers who have attempted todemonstrate that modern man may yet have a significant religious expe-rience in relation to nature are Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Dewey.Both Emerson and Dewey described forms of naturalism wherein hu-manity might pursue the ideal ends of their lives in a structured, valuablepattern of practical activity as they interact with nature. It was Deweywho made use of the term natural piety, but both urged mankind topractice a form of natural piety.2

In this essay, I want to explore the ways that natural piety would beexpressed if one adopted the naturalism of Emerson or Dewey. Ofcourse, Emerson was a transcendentalist, Dewey was an instrumentalist.At first glance it may appear that there is only a verbal dispute betweenEmerson and Dewey regarding the practice of naturalism. The practicalreasoning required by both for the practice of natural piety initially ap-pears to be the same. A closer comparison, however, may reveal that thenatural piety described by each is fundamentally different. Such a com-parison may also demonstrate a methodology for formulating a meaning-ful response to nihilism. I shall begin with a brief sketch of the naturalismof each author.

I Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, in Existentialism from Dostoevsky o Sartre, ed.Walter Kaufmann (New York: New American Library, 1975), p. 131.2 John Dewey, A CommonFaith (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1934), p. 25.

? 1995 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0022-4189/95/7503-0001$01.00

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son said, Into every intelligence there is a door which is never closed,through which the creator passes. 7

I have used the term naturalpiety

in connection with Emerson todesignate an individual's devotion to nature, that is, one's religious re-sponse to nature. For Emerson, this religious response to nature is anoutgrowth of one's intuitive grasp of his or her relation to nature. It isnot a forced or falsified relationship to nature. In addition, it refers to astate of being in which an individual might become reflectively aware ofhis or her relation to nature. Let us explore this idea at greater length.

Individuals, who experience themselves as conscious beings, may findthemselves alienated from nature. This was a form of insanity, according

to Emerson, who said, The tradesman, the attorney comes out of thedin and craft of the street, and sees the sky and the woods, and is a managain. 8 The renewal that comes to one who regains a sense of his or herprimordial relation to nature in this instance is not the result of somemetaphysical transformation. Through a change of one's own consciousperspective one becomes aware of one's metaphysical dependence uponnature. Nature, to which humanity is indebted, stands ever ready to beappreciated. Emerson said, The simplest person who in his integrityworships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this betterand universal self is new and unsearchable. 9

The worshiper becomes aware of his or her relation to nature in a stateof heightened consciousness. So, does the worshiper arrive at this stateof heightened consciousness by artificial inducements? Emerson stressedthat this heightened consciousness is not something that the worshipercan force upon himself or herself. Emerson said, never can any advan-tage be taken of nature by a trick. The spirit of the world, the great calmpresence of the Creator, comes not forth to the sorceries of opium or of

wine. The sublime vision comes to the pure and simple soul in a cleanand chaste body. 0

Only by quietly attuning oneself to nature can an individual enhancehis or her relation to nature. One must become insensitive to the hurly-burly lifestyle of the masses so that the voice of nature can be heard.Proximity to natural surroundings may become the occasion for this en-hanced awareness of nature, but it is not the cause of that enhancedawareness. Through such simple, natural efforts, one may become awareof a shift of perspective regarding the world. One moves out of a strictlyegoistic view to a transcendental view. In a much-cited passage, Emerson

7 Experience, p. 273.8Nature, p. 11.9 Oversoul, p. 208.10 The Poet, p. 260.

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The Journal of Religion

said: In the woods I return to reason and faith.... Standing on thebare ground,-my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinitespace,-all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball. I amnothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate throughme; I am part or particle of God. 1

In Emerson's view, if individuals were to change their perspective re-garding their metaphysical relationship to nature, then a change of per-spective would manifest itself in their practical expressions of natural pi-ety. For that reason, intuitionism plays a key role in Emerson's view ofhumanity's relation to nature. As one turns away from the crowd and theworld toward nature, the Oversoul may reveal itself to the listener.

What happens as a result of this experience of worship? First, the wor-shiper becomes aware of a qualitatively superior relation to nature. Emer-son said, The soul gives itself, alone, original and pure, to the Lonely,Original and Pure, who, on that condition, gladly inhabits, leads andspeaks through it. 12 So the individual whose life was once plagued by amultitude of competing ends and motivations finds a new sense of inte-grated purpose and existence. He will weave no longer a spotted life ofshreds and patches, but he will live with a divine unity. He will cease fromwhat is base and frivolous in life and be content with all places and withany service he can render. 13

Many of the competing and mutually exclusive finite ends that wouldotherwise distract an individual would come to be abandoned or reinte-grated in a positive way in the life of one who displayed natural piety.Certainly there would be a greater sense of self-confidence in the persondisplaying natural piety, since the person would learn not to belittle hisor her own inner glimmer of truth. Furthermore, a person displayingnatural piety might be identifiable as a nonconformist on the strength ofhis or her self-reliance. As Emerson wrote, Whoso would be a

man,must

be a nonconformist. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of yourown mind. Absolve you to yourself. And you shall have the suffrage ofthe world. 14

Second, adherents to natural piety might also display a different rela-tion to society. On the one hand, they would not enter society as mereconformists. On the other hand, as they entered into social relations,there would be a greater respect for an other because of the recognitionof the divine element in the other. Emerson said, 'Jove nods to Jove from

1Nature, p. 8.12 Ibid., p. 210.13 Ibid., p. 212.14 Self-Reliance, p. 92.

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behind each of us. 15 Encountering an other as an embodiment of thedivine spirit was certain to influence the social relation that those individ-uals shared. If the other was not in touch with the divine element inhis or her own life, that would limit the possible exchange between theindividuals. As Emerson put it, Everywhere I am hindered of meetinggod in my brother, because he has shut his own temple doors and recitesfables merely of his brother, or his brother's brother's God. 16 Emerson'spenetrating insight into human relations led him to condemn slaveryopenly. He realized that it was a petty-spirited individual who would cam-paign for world relief for some ethnic group while tolerating the enslave-ment and victimization of a fellow human within that individual's own

community.Third, if a person were to display natural piety, this would be evidentin his or her relation to the surrounding world. That individual woulddiscover that he or she was working in harmony with nature. Likewise,that individual would find that nature was meant to be used for his orher purposes, providing that those were the purposes of nature itself.Emerson realized that much of what passed for prayer within orthodoxreligious circles was cheap begging. His own view of prayer offers an al-ternative to that type of practice, while demonstrating how someone dis-playing natural piety works in cooperation with the world spirit for good:

Prayer hat craves a particular ommodity, anything ess than all good, is vicious.Prayer s the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. Itis the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pro-nouncing his works good. But prayer as a means to effect a private end is mean-ness and theft. It supposes dualism and not unity in nature and consciousness.As soon as the man is at one with God, he will not beg. He will then see prayer nall action. The prayer of the farmer kneeling in his field to weed it, the prayer ofthe rower

kneelingwith the stroke of his oar, are true

prayersheard

throughoutnature, though for cheap ends.'7

Emerson might be identified as a pantheist.'8 The Oversoul or the di-vine mind is identifiable in all the world. In the case of humanity, theOversoul is present to inspire the individual, if he or she consciously at-tended to its prompting. Idealism sees the world in God. It beholds thewhole circle of persons and things, of actions and events, of country andreligion, not as painfully accumulated, atom after atom, act after act, in

15 Oversoul, . 202.16 Self-Reliance, p. 106.17 Ibid., p. 105.18 There is some debate whether Emerson should be labeled simply a pantheist or a pan-

entheist. I shall not take up that discussion here. However, find the possibility hat he wasa panentheist unlikely, ince he took a monistic, dealistic position regarding nature.

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an aged creeping Past, but as one vast picture which God paints on theinstant eternity, for the contemplation of the soul. Therefore the soulholds itself off from a too trivial and

microscopic studyof the universal

tablet. '9 Natural piety is not only a state of mind but also a state of beingthat might manifest itself in action as an individual behaved in organicharmony with the leading of nature. The person who is moved to actupon the basis of natural piety is an individualist rather than a con-formist.20

II. DEWEY'S VIEW OF NATURE AND NATURAL PIETY

Having examined Emerson's view of nature and natural piety, we are ina better position to understand Dewey's views. Dewey, an instrumentalist,was a firm critic of traditional religion and was committed to an instru-mentally valuable form of religiousness hat he called natural piety. Mostof the observations hat I shall make here about Dewey's view of natureand natural piety are drawn from a work he offered in his mature years,A CommonFaith.

Throughout the writings of Dewey, one may find an opposition to dual-isms,

especiallythe dualisms of classical

supernaturalism. Dewey'swork

A Common aith s an attempt to show that what is genuinely religious canbe emancipated when it is freed of the encumbrances of supernatural-ism.21As we shall see, for Dewey this also meant that the emancipation ofthe genuinely religious lay in its being freed of metaphysical commit-ments.

Consider Dewey's comments about mystical experience. Dewey be-lieved that an individual who was committed to supernaturalism had ahermeneutical mind-set that would exploit religious experience for self-

validation. Dewey did not deny that one could have a mystical experi-ence, but his criticism was directed against the circular reasoning used toanalyze the experience. He wrote, This dualism as it operates n contem-porary interpretation of mystic experience in order to validate certain

19Nature, p. 28.20 Emerson's description of natural piety is roughly comparable to William James's de-

scription of nature mysticism. In Varieties of Religious Experience New York: New AmericanLibrary, 1958), James described several incidents where nature awakened within some indi-

vidual mystical moods. In a footnote (p. 302) James commented on an incident involvingnature mysticism. He said, The larger God may then swallow up the smaller one. Thus,in James's view, when one encounters the divine element in nature, one may experientiallytranscend the muffling effect of religious tradition on an encounter with the divine. Recallthat Emerson himself found his own religious tradition to be stifling by comparison withhis encounter with the Oversoul through nature. James might easily include Emersonwithin his corps of nature mystics.

21 Dewey, p. 2.

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Emerson and Dewey

beliefs is but a reinstatement of the old dualism between the natural andthe supernatural, in terms better adapted to the cultural conditions ofthe

presenttime. 22

Dewey thoughtthat a belief in

supernaturalismbi-

ased our understanding of experience and interfered with our pursuit ofideal ends. In the degree in which we cease to depend upon belief inthe supernatural, selection is enlightened and choice can be made in be-half of ideals whose inherent relations to conditions and consequencesare understood. Were the naturalistic oundations and bearings of reli-gion grasped, the religious element in life would emerge from the throesof the crisis of religion. 23

Dewey's reactionary omments against supernaturalism re insufficient

to determine whether Dewey's naturalism was either pantheistic or athe-istic. However, Dewey did not want to have his view of religious experi-ence identified as an atheistic view, because of the pragmatic conse-quences of that view. Dewey thought that, if the universe were regardedatheistically, t would foster the impression that man's environment s in-different or hostile to his presence.24 Dewey said, Areligious attitude,however, needs the sense of a connection of man, in the way of both de-pendence and support, with the enveloping world that the imaginationfeels is a universe. 25 So, Dewey wanted humanity to view the universe asbeing pragmatically ooperative with humanistic projects, but he did notwant to suggest that there was some personal or metaphysical basis fornature's congeniality oward or cooperativeness with humanistic projects.

We may use the term theistic naturalism o describe Dewey's view-point only if we give a proper account of his use of the term God.Dewey said, It is the activerelation between ideal and actual to which Iwould give the name 'God. '26 He uses the term in a pragmatic senserather than a strictly metaphysical ense. For instance, The idea [of God]

is, as I have said, one of ideal possibilities unified through imaginativerealization and projection. But this idea of God, or of the divine, is alsoconnected with all the natural orces and conditions-including man andhuman association-that promote the growth of the ideal and that fur-ther its realization. 27

This usage is consistent with Dewey's instrumentalism, but has gener-ated considerable confusion. Part of the confusion seems to have arisenwhen Dewey's readers used metaphysical ategories to analyze his instru-mentalism. Corliss Lamont attempted to alleviate some of this confusion

22 Ibid., p. 38.23 Ibid., p. 57.24 Ibid., p. 53.25 Ibid.26 Ibid., p. 51.27 Ibid., p. 50.

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regarding Dewey's metaphysical commitments by corresponding withDewey. The letters exchanged by Dewey and Lamont for several weeksled Lamont to the

followingconclusion:

'John Deweywas

not, then,in

any sense a theist, but an uncompromising naturalist or humanist thinkerwho saw the value of a shared religious faith free from outworn supernat-uralism and institutional fanaticism. 28

If one is to determine, on the basis of Dewey's usage, the meaning thathe attaches to the term nature, then one needs to appreciate two dis-tinct ways that the term may be used. One the one hand, one may makean undifferentiated use of the term, in which case one does not set natureapart as a conglomerate per se but refers to it as an aggregate. The partsare not taken to be distinguishable from the whole. In a similar vein, onemay speak of beings while refraining from speech about Being per se.On the other hand, the term nature may also be used to pick out thewhole, as such, as opposed to the parts. Something like this happenswhen ontologists speak of Being per se and juxtapose this term with be-ings in particular. What usage of the term nature do we find in Dew-ey's writings?

In light of Dewey's special instrumental use of the term God, I thinkwe are better able to understand his view of nature. Dewey is found tohave used the term nature in two different senses. Above, Emersonmakes use of the term Nature in a differentiated sense, so that it issynonymous with God, the Divine mind, and the Oversoul. Dewey isfound to have used the term in both a differentiated and a nondifferenti-ated sense. John Smith observed, By 'nature' [Dewey] did not mean acosmic system or order of that sort envisioned by those who adhered tothe classical conception of a 'Chain of Being' wherein nature stands assomething distinct from man and God ... at the same time he actually

used the classical differential sense when opposing idealists, theists andothers bent on denying that the cosmic system exhausts what there is. 29Dewey used the term nature in a strictly differentiated sense in his

replies to supernaturalists, but these replies were meant to be understoodonly dialectically. It was suggested above that Dewey's usage of the term

God was best understood in light of his instrumentalism. It would seeminappropriate to label Dewey a naturalist in the same sense that the labelis used for Emerson. Dewey's instrumentalism was opposed not only todualisms but also to noninstrumentally valuable metaphysical dogmassuch as pantheism. A nondifferentiated view of nature is consistent with

28 Corliss Lamont, New Light on Dewey's Common Faith, Journal of Philosophy 58, no.1(1961): 27.29John E. Smith, Purpose and Thought: The Meaning of Pragmatism (New Haven, Conn.:Yale University Press, 1978), pp. 224-25, n. 86.

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Dewey's instrumentalism. One might be able to substitute the term na-ture for the term God n Dewey's ater works, providing that one didnot misunderstand the term to be used in some

metaphysicalor ulti-

mate sense.For Dewey, natural piety was a way to ennoble individuals and to ally

them with the resources of the world so that they might better pursuethe ideal ends of a good life, that is, a humanistically ood life. Comparethe views of Emerson and Dewey regarding the effects of natural pietyupon individuals' relations to one another and to society. First, Deweyobserved that the particular problems of humanity that the churches ofhis generation addressed were merely symptoms of a more fundamental

problem-the disintegration of the self; and Dewey attempted to showthat a holistic solution was needed for this fundamental problem facinghumanity. Through the practice of natural piety, one's life became reinte-grated with an ideal self, society, and nature: The self is always directedtoward something beyond itself and so its own unification depends uponthe idea of the integration of the shifting scenes of the world into thatimaginative totality we call the Universe. 30Dewey's point is that, whenfaced with humanitarian problems, traditional religious practitioners areoften standoffish. They refrain from intervening in situations where hu-man welfare s at risk and where their input could contribute o the reso-lution of the situation. Dewey claimed that dependence upon an exter-nal power is the counterpart of surrender of human endeavor. 31 Underthe pretense of waiting for divine intervention, followers of traditionalreligions have too often deliberately refrained from intervening in diresituations.

Emerson held a similar view. He condemned the religious practice ofmaking gratuitous prayers. Emerson held that one's best prayers were

the prayers of action, acts done in pursuit of some end. Recall the follow-ing quote from Emerson: The prayer of the farmer kneeling in his fieldto weed it, the prayer of the rower kneeling with the stroke of his oar,are true prayers heard throughout nature, though for cheap ends. 32Emerson thought that one could interactively communicate with naturethrough one's behavior rather than by verbal communication. In so do-ing, one could act for the betterment of one's self.

Second, Dewey's natural piety promoted social intervention ratherthan supernatural ntervention. He wrote, The old-fashioned ideas ofdoing something to make the will of God prevail in the world, and ofassuming the responsibility of doing the job ourselves, have more to be

30Dewey, p. 19.

31 Ibid., p. 46.32 Self-Reliance, p. 105.

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said for them, logicallyand practically. 3Dewey did not simply disparagethe laxness of traditional religion in resolving social problems, but he

emphasizedthe value of

religiousnessfor

effectingthe welfare of man-

kind. In Dewey's view, not in religion but in religiousness there is theconviction that, if human desire and endeavor were enlisted in behalf ofnatural ends, conditions would be bettered. 4 n his view, the bettermentof the human condition, such as the social relations of humanity, s de-pendent upon human rather than supernatural ntervention.

Third, Emerson and Dewey held very different views on the effect ofnatural piety upon one's relations to the world. Earlier I discussed how,in Emerson's view, a change of perspectives would follow from reestab-

lishing one's primordial relation with nature. In Emerson's view, thatcould effectivelyalienate those quietly attuned to nature from others whowere not so attuned. In Dewey's view, no special metaphysical attune-ment was required, and it is likely that Dewey would have identified thatelement of Emerson's naturalism as a romantic idealization of theworld. Dewey summarized his view of natural piety as follows: Naturalpiety is not of necessity either a fatalistic acquiescence n natural happen-ings or a romantic dealization of the world. It may rest upon a just senseof nature as the whole of which we are parts, while it also recognizes thatwe are parts that are marked by intelligence and purpose, having thecapacity o strive by their aid to bring conditions nto greater consonancewith what is humanly desirable. 35

III. PRACTICAL ACTIVITY AND PRACTICAL REASONING

Above, I have attempted to compare the descriptions of natural piety byEmerson and Dewey. The way that practitioners of natural piety would

express their faith may be a more pressing consideration. If one wereconvinced of the value of natural piety how would one implement a pro-gram of natural piety? To understand that, we must examine how onemoves from faith to practice. Here I give a brief account of how one'sfaith may be implemented by means of one's practical reason.36 Prac-

33Dewey, p. 79.34 Ibid., p. 46.35 Ibid., p. 25.36

Above, I explore the way in which one moves from a faith in natural piety to a practiceof natural piety. For devotees of natural piety, some of the problems associated with thismove from faith to practice may arise as a result of the absence of a firm dogma or revela-tion in naturalism. More traditional religions rely heavily upon a written or spoken voice ofauthority to facilitate the move from faith to practice. Nevertheless, I suspect that prac-titioners of more traditional forms of religion are not exempt from some of the same diffi-culties associated with the move from faith to practice through practical reasoning, and Ihope to explore that idea in an upcoming project.

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tical reasoning is goal-directed reasoning that has a performative dimen-sion.

Aristotle understood practical reasoning to be a type of reasoning thatissued in practical activity, that is, it was a type of reasoning that hada performative dimension. Practical wisdom, he claimed, must be areasoned and true state of capacity o act with regard to human goods. 37In addition, understanding and practical wisdom are not the same. Forpractical wisdom issues commands, since its end is what ought to be doneor not to be done; but understanding only judges. 38 Understanding isimportant for making udgments, but one does not necessarily act uponthe judgments of one's understanding. In the passage ust cited, Aristotlesaid that understanding isabout the same objects as practical wisdom.Yet, my practical reasoning gives rise to judgments about my personalbehavior in a way that my understanding does not. Aristotle said, 'un-derstanding' s applicable o the exercise of the faculty of opinion for thepurpose of judging of what some one else says about matters with whichpractical wisdom is concerned-and judging soundly. 39An individualacts upon the judgments of her own practical reasoning.

Consider a strikingly modern example of practical reasoning found inAristotle: If a man knew that

lightmeats are

digestibleand

wholesome,but did not know which sorts of meat are light, he would not producehealth, but the man who knows that chicken is wholesome is more likelyto produce health. 40 In the example, light meats are a healthy type ofmeat. Yet, much more must be known, if that knowledge is to benefit theconscientious consumer. The consumer must also know what meat tokensare included in this meat type. Poultry and fish could be two meat tokensthat would be included in this meat type. Finally, f this knowledge is tobe valuable for the individual's health, then the reference to light meat

must be extensionally meaningful. To consume a healthy meat, as theexample suggests, the individual must be able to identify and procure anavailable chicken product from the meat market.

Perhaps the best way to examine practical reasoning is to analyze fur-ther some of Aristotle's examples. On the one hand, practical reasoningwas thought to issue in action. On the other hand, practical reasoning, asAristotle describes it, was formally similar to classical, syllogistic reason-ing. It offers us a logical cross section of action that describes both theorigin and end of action. If one acts intentionally, hen practical reason-

37 The Works of Aristotle, ed. J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross, vol. 5 (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1912), Nicomachean Ethics, 1140b20; hereafter cited as Aristotle, NE.

38 Ibid., NE 1143a8.39Ibid., NE 1143a13-15.40Ibid., NE 1141b18.

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ing can demonstrate the origin of that action. Aristotle said, The originof action-its efficient, not its final cause-is choice, and that of choice isdesire and

reasoningwith a view to an end. Of course the end of action

is the primitive bodily movement intended to precipitate some desirableend. Consider two examples offered by Aristotle:PSI: I should make omething ood. PSII: I have o drink, aysappetite.

Ahouse s something ood. Here's drink, ays enseper-At once I makea house. ception.

Atonce he drinks.41These examples demonstrate not only the logical progression n practi-

cal reasoning, but also the problems associated with it. First, consider howthey exemplify practical reasoning. The conclusion of the syllogism is aperformative statement reached by a process of reasoning along twolines. One premise is a prescriptive statement of what is desirable.42 heother premise states the means for attaining that desirable end. Ofcourse, the conclusion brings the means and the end together in the formof a plan of action. Douglas Walton said, Aristotlepostulates practicalreasoning as a linkage between appetite and sense perception. 43

Second, these examples demonstrate some of the problems associated

with practical reasoning. Aristotle wrote, No one deliberates aboutthings that are invariable, nor about things that it is impossible for himto do. 44 It seems clear that the efficient cause of choice is both desire andreasoning with a view to an end. G. E. M. Anscombe said, Aristotlewouldseem to have held that every action done by a rational agent was capableof having its grounds set forth up to a premise containing a desirabilitycharacterisation. 45 Such declarative statements of what is desirable,

41 Here I give Walton's modernized rendition of Aristotle's syllogisms. See Douglas Wal-

ton, Practical Reasoning: Goal-Driven, Knowledge Based, Action-Guiding Argumentation Totowa,N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1990), p. 11. Aristotle said, For the actualization of desire is asubstitute or inquiry or reflection. I want to drink, says appetite; this is drink, says senseor imagination or mind: straightaway drink. In this way living creatures are impelled tomove and to act, and desire is the last or immediate cause of movement, and desire arisesafter perception or after imagination and conception see Aristotle, NE 701a30-40; PS =Practical yllogism).

42 Some further work has been done on the analysis of practical reasoning by MichaelBratman. In his book, Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni-versity Press, 1987), Bratman uggested that practical easoning occurred on two levels. Hesaid, Prior ntentions and plans pose problems and provide a filter on options that are

potentialsolutions to those

problems;desire-belief reasons enter as considerations o be

weighted n deliberating between relevant and admissible ptions p. 35). The prescriptivestatement of what is desirable could be correlated with Bratman's irst level of practicalreasoning. One develops an intentional plan that designates some desirable end as its goal.

43Walton, p. 11.44 Aristotle, NE 1140a33.45 G. E. M. Anscombe, ntention New York: Cornell University Press, 1963), p. 72.

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vidual to the environment. To act reverentially toward nature, one mustsuccessfully make the judgment this is nature. One of two different

backgroundbeliefs about nature could be held

bythe

practitionerof nat-

ural piety. In Emerson's account, nature was described in a differentiated,pantheistic sense; but Dewey's used a nondifferentiated sense of nature.Both recognized the instrumental value of nature, and both urged indi-viduals to make full use of the potential of nature rather than appealingto some otherworldly force. Emerson said, Nature is thoroughly medi-ate. It is made to serve. It receives the dominion of man as meekly as theass on which the Savior rode. 52Yet, we should not overlook the fact that,in Emerson's naturalism, Nature itself had ultimate ends that man was

meant to serve. Emerson said that prayer as a means to effect a privateend is meanness and theft. It supposes dualism and not unity in natureand consciousness. As soon as the man is at one with God, he will notbeg. 53 Dewey could offer his approval of the turn toward nature andaway from supernaturalism, but Dewey regarded nature as somethinginstrumentally valuable only. Since the instrumental value of nature wasgrounded on whatever proved to be instrumentally valuable to humanity,this type of natural piety could justify the displacement of not only ulti-mate purposes like those envisioned by Emerson but also the purposesof coexistent species. So, the natural piety of Dewey might lead to theexploitation of nature.

It may be enlightening to consider how individuals persuaded by ei-ther Emerson or Dewey would react to a current situation, where man'saction could place nature at risk. In its July 1994 report to stockholders,one California-based oil and gas company, Unocal, explained its pro-jected expansion program in Southeast Asia.54 Roger Beach, the CEO ofthe company, emphasized that the company would endeavor both to have

a positive impact on local people and to take environmental responsibili-ties seriously. The expansion program outlined in the report proposesthat a natural gas pipeline running through Myanmar to Thailand beinstalled. The pipeline would cross some rain forest areas. To find outhow to minimize environmental damage, the company consulted both aresearch scientist specializing in rain forests and a tropical botanist. Thecurrent plan is to make a minimal clearing for the pipeline and to providereforestation wherever it is needed. The same research scientist who re-viewed the plan said, there appears to be a way of designing and routing

52Nature, p. 20.53 Self-Reliance, p. 105.54 Unocal in Myanmar: Report to the Stockholders (Los Angeles, Calif., Corporate

Communications Department, Unocal Corp., 1994).

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the line to maintain the integrity of the forests. 55 While the expansionprogram will benefit humankind in terms of providing jobs and available

energy resources,the

proposed planis also

environmentallysensitive in

that it promises to minimize the pipeline's environmental impact. TheCEO's report was written in response to shareholders who had expresseda concern about humanity's moral obligation to be environmentally sen-sitive.

One who was persuaded by Emerson to practice natural piety couldeasily understand the obligation to develop an environmentally sensitiveexpansion program in this situation. One who was persuaded by Deweyto practice natural piety would not experience the same sense of obliga-

tion to act in an environmentally sensitive way. The latter person mightreason that, if a plan of action were not more instrumentally valuable forhumanitarian ends, it would not be obligatory. In other words, in Dewey'sview there is no justification for an obligation ab extra to be environmen-tally conscientious, whereas in Emerson's view there is. In Dewey's view,environmental conscientiousness would be justified only if it proved tobe more instrumentally valuable for humanitarian ends.

V. CONCLUSION

Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Dewey included within their natu-ralism descriptions of natural piety. The person who reflectively reveresnature and who manifests that reverence for nature in practical activityis a practitioner of natural piety. Yet, Emerson and Dewey demonstratedthat there may be two vastly different forms of natural piety. Practitionersof both types of natural piety engage in a similar process of practical rea-soning, but the practical activity that results differs widely; therefore,

through this comparison one finds an apparently verbal dispute that is agenuine dispute. At the heart of the genuine dispute are the differentattitudes of Emerson and Dewey toward religion. Emerson's descriptionof natural piety is religious, and the reverence for nature it inspires ismetaphysically grounded. Dewey's description of natural piety makes useof an instrumental view of religiousness, and the reverence for nature itinspires is subject to instrumental criteria.

In light of the fact that man resorts to natural piety to combat nihilism,the significance of the latter observation should not be underestimated.Emerson's naturalism would combat nihilism by a return to a metaphysi-cal commitment, whereas Dewey's naturalism would combat nihilism

55 Ibid., p. 7.

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through a plan of action that is fundamentally self-affirmative. WithinEmerson's naturalism, individuals travel a path to meaningful existence

as they reaffirm their primordial relation to the Oversoul. As they culti-vate that relation and allow it to influence all other personal relations,those individuals reclaim for themselves meaningful existence.

Within Dewey's naturalism, to travel a path to meaningful existenceone must be disengaged from an otherworldly religious orientation.Then, by focusing upon the potentiality available within nature, one mayturn nature toward the service of a humanistically good life. Nature is tobe respected for its potentiality and happily engaged in light of its conviv-ial instrumentality, but nature does not become a substitute for some oth-

erworldly deity such that one's efforts are turned toward its service perse. Within Dewey's natural piety, one does not find any justification forNature worship.

This essay examines two naturalistic solutions to nihilism.56 Never-theless, there is an important methodological point to be observed here,for anyone attempting to formulate a solution to nihilism. Emerson's de-scription of naturalism is metaphysically grounded, whereas Dewey's de-scription of naturalism is not. Dewey's naturalistic solution to nihilism,without

metaphysical grounding,demonstrates how we

mayresort to

self-authenticating tactics to combat meaninglessness. To the extent thatthese self-authenticating tactics for combating nihilism are environmen-tally insensitive, they may upon reflection prove to be ultimately self-effacing.

56 I myself am inclined to believe that an effective way to combat nihilism lies along a pathsimilar to the one taken by Emerson though significantly different. To me it seems that thepanentheistic solution to the problem that has been described by Charles Hartshorne andhas been developed within process theism by thinkers like Schubert Ogden and John B.Cobb may be an effective way to combat nihilism. I leave the discussion of that line ofthought to be developed elsewhere.

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1995, Jul, Emerson and Dewey on Natural Piety

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