Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was American essayist, philosopher, port, critic and speaker. He was one of the leading American thinkers of the 19th century. Emerson’s philosophy stresses that people should be independent and rely on themselves and not on the society. He said that there is as much to be learned from experience as from books. His views influenced noted writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, William James and Emily Dickson. Emerson lectured all over America. His famous speech “The American Scholar” dealt with his ideas on education. Through his “Divinity School Address”, delivered in 1838, he attacked organized religion.