Annotated Bibliography

Esch, Stacy Tartar. Ralph Waldo Emerson on Individuality vs. Conformity. BrainstormServices.com Educational Materials. WCU, 2005. 20 Oct. 2015.

Stacy Esch is an English instructor that teaches at West Chester University. She has a
extensive background, teaching in many schools in the US, such as Drexel and
Immaculata University.

This is a Secondary Source: The article acts as a critique of Emersons views on

individuality in many ways. It explains Emersons view; how the world tries to force
conformity upon people, taking away the things that make us individuals. Esch promptly
responds to these views, asking interesting questions such as why is it so nasty to
conform and is any amount of conformity dangerous? This presents a dilemma: what
should we strive for, conformity or individuality?

This works really well with my topic, presenting the pros and cons between conformity
and non-conformity. I think it is a good idea to have opposing views in my essay.

REFLECTION:
The ideas that Esch propose prove to be more of a neutral opinion in comparison to
Emersons more radical opinion; that one should strive for their own individuality and not
conform to societies standards. Since Im writing my essay on Individuality and

Conformity, its good to have more of a neutral ground to work with, since very few
people really do think radically one way or another. The ideas outlined in this essay arent
really factually based or opinionated; she really just writes in a way that provokes a
higher level of thought rather than the black and white ideals of Emerson. The writing
provides a rather generalized overview, however, as she doesnt go too deep into a
specific idea other than the occasional example. Although written for a knowledgeable
audience, the article is mainly focused towards students, as it is a essay written for
students at West Chester University. Despite this, the text was well written and helped me
get a clearer grasp on the subject and allowed me to see two differing opinions.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor, 1997. Print.

Jon Krakauer is a well known outdoorsman and writer, who mainly focuses on mountain
climbing. He has published many books after the critically acclaimed Into the Wild,
including Into Thin Air a book written about his own adventures while mountain
climbing.

This is a Secondary Source: the book focuses on the life of Chris McCandless, a young
man who left his entire life behind to live a life in nature. Not only does he write about
the story of Chris, but he also compares his story to people like him. Because he didnt
leave behind very much, Krakauer was forced to find the people who came into contact
with Chris, and piece together his story using that.

This book relates to my topic because it was the basis of my topic to begin with. The
whole Individuality v. Conformity acts as an analysis of why people choose to do crazy
things like Chris did, while others choose to live more normal lives.

REFLECTION:
The book, in essence, is the most complete story that we have about Chris. It gives us the
best psychological background we can make out for him; allowing people to break down
and analyze his motives and the way that he thought. The evidence is all as close to
factual as possible, although it does rely on how accurate the stories that were told to him
by the people that encountered Chris were. The intended audience for the novel is really
anyone that wants to learn more about his story. It is a well known and renowned novel,
so the audience is rather large. The writing is informal, as it it written as a novel rather
than a source such as an essay, which makes it easy to read and helped me really get a
grasp on Chris personality. This allowed me to come up with my topic.

Thomson, Irene Taviss. Individualism and Conformity in the 1950s Vs. The
1980s. Sociological Forum 7.3 (1992): 497516. Web...

Irene Thomson is very successful academic and writer. She attended Brooklyn College
for her undergraduate, and got her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. She
taught at Fairleigh Dickinson college for over three decades, and posted numerous
journals to all sorts of sociology publications.

This is a Secondary Source: This essay describes the alteration of the ideas of
individuality and conformity over the course of the 20th century. It describes the
underlying reasons between these shifts, and how the different times impact societys
views.

This essay relates to my topic because it helps point out how the views of society can
influence the views of the individual. Rather than arguing for or against conformity, it
provides a historical timeline of sorts to help put things into perspective.

REFLECTION:
This essay simply gives a historical perspective on the matter of conformity and how
society has influenced it over the past century. For my essay, I definitely can use the
research from this article as a backbone of my essay. This essay is really well written and
seems to have a lot of research behind it. Its obvious that Taviss was well informed on
her topic and really knew what she was talking about. Although it is well researched, it is
rather generalized however. Not everyone from the 1950s was a conformist and not
everyone from the 1970s was a non-conformist. Despite this, its a good starting place for
research and should prove to be useful for my essay. The intended audience is likely
mainly for other academics in the sociological field. This essay really helped me get a
clearer grasp on things by focusing on such a recent history.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance. Essays. Boston; J. Munroe and Co., 1941. N. pag. Print.

Emerson is a very well known essayist, lecturer and poet who led the transcendentalist
movement of the mid 19th century. He was very critical of society; believing that above
all, the greatest thing that one can accomplish is self-realization.

This is a Primary Source: In this essay, Emerson is very critical of society. He highlights
the importance of thinking for yourself, rather than conforming to the standards expected
from society. An example of this is how he emphasizes learning from experience rather
than from books and other sources. He states that secondhand thoughts impede creativity
which is necessary for self realization.

This essay relates to my topic because it presents an argument for individuality. I feel like
it is necessary to present all sides of an argument when comparing things.

REFLECTION:
This essay focuses on Emersons strong belief that people should break away from the
path that society has placed for them, and instead find their own. He believes that we are
limiting ourselves when we conform to the standards of a society. This does present a
very good point, even if I dont agree with it completely. Although he makes good points,
it is a rather opinionated article, as he is basing everything that he says off of his own
beliefs. The essay provides a basic overview of why he believes that people should be
fully self-reliant, but he doesnt go into very much specific details. The writing style is
very formal, and it makes it rather hard to read. Because of this, you can tell that it is

written mainly for other successful academics like himself. His writing has become very
popular in literature, and its easy to understand why. His ideas make a lot of sense, and
helped me understand more about why someone would want to be a non-conformist like
that.

Wilson, Stephen A. Conformity, Individuality, and the Nature of Virtue: A Classical Confucian
Contribution to Contemporary Ethical Reflection. The Journal of Religious Ethics 23.2
(1995): 263289. Web...

Couldnt find any info on author.

This is a Secondary Source: This essay outlines the idea in Confucianism of the
importance of society over that of the individual. He goes into depth detailing that society
is what makes us human. Without some degree of conformity, it is impossible for our
society to flourish in any way. He doesnt say that individuality is bad though; instead, he
points out that individuality is important for us to create our own identity.

This essay relates to my topic because it focuses on individuality, and how different
societies over the years have argued over extreme views one way or another; when in
reality its less black and white and more grey.

REFLECTION:

This essay brings up the opposite view to what Ive been focusing on. Rather than
focusing on the Transcendental ideas of self-realization that Ive been researching, this
focuses on the idea from Confucianism that the society is more important than the
individual. This is important for my essay, because it allows me to see the other relatively
extreme side of the spectrum, giving me an idea of how over the course of history, there
have been numerous instances of opposing ideas on the subject. Wilsons writing is more
or less his opinion, although he does provide evidence to support what he writes. The
article provides a basic overview of some of the ideas of Confucianism, and goes rather
in depth with his critique. It has an extremely formal writing style, which brings me to
believe that this essay was written for a rather well-informed audience, likely for
academics similar to him. The text helped me see different perspectives than I most of
what I have been researching, helping me to understand my topic more.

John T. Lysaker. Emerson and Self-Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,

2008. Project MUSE. Web. 31 Oct. 2015. <https://muse.jhu.edu/>.

John Lysaker is a professor teaching at Emory University working in the department of

philosophy. He received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, a very highly regarded
school.

This is a Secondary Source: This book acts as an examination of Emersons idea of self
culture. Lysaker dives in and breaks down different passages of Emersons essays,

giving readers and explanation on the things that Emerson wrote, while also giving his
opinions on them.

This book relates to my topic, because it examines the things that Emerson wrote about
self culture, and provides a detailed response to them.

REFLECTION:
This book really goes into detail about the things that Emerson wrote, analyzing them and
providing a nice explanation and response. In my essay, I can use Lysakers responses to
give myself a deeper understanding of the idea of the self culture. The text is all well
researched, and has a lot of backing to support the things that he wrote. Its very specific,
because it goes into detail analyzing different sentences of different essays in order to
form his conclusions. The book is written for looking for a deeper understanding of the
writings and opinions of Emerson, so it is likely mainly aimed at other academics. The
way that he broke down and explained all kinds of different excerpts in great detail really
helped me understand the concept of self-culture really well, and his responses really got
me to think about the things Emerson wrote in more detail.

Bramann, Jorn K. Descartes: The Solitary Self. The Educating Rita Workbook. Cumberland,
MD: Nightsun, 2004. N. pag. Print.

This is a Secondary Source: This text acts as an overview of Rene Descartes, going into
significant detail about his philosophy and ideals. Descartes is known as the father of
modern philosophy, giving many ideas of the separation between the self and the society.

This book relates to my topic, because Descartes was a man who was intent on the idea of
the individual. He is more or less the reason that Individuality is such a prevalent concept
in todays society meaning that he is a important asset in the writing of my essay.

REFLECTION:
This chapter really goes into a lot of depth, explaining the philosophy of Rene Descartes.
I intend on dedicating a significant portion of my essay to him, because he is a vital part
of the history of Individuality. The information displayed is more or less entirely
historical, serving as factual overview to the philosophy of Descartes. It goes into a lot of
detail on the subject, obviously written with a well-informed audience in mind.

Brindley, Erica. "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Pennsylvania State University, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

This is a Secondary Source: it acts as a contradiction to many ideas of Confucianism and

other ancient eastern philosophy. Most people believe eastern philosophy to be totally
focused on the society rather than the individual, but this shows evidence that the
individual was in fact important to eastern philosophy.

This is an important asset to my essay because it gives a totally different cultural idea
toward my topic, but also shows that in a lot of ways it is quite similar to western
philosophy.

REFLECTION:
The ideas presented in this text serve as a contrary basis to the common belief that eastern
philosophy are wholly focused on the society rather than the individual. It shows how in a
lot of ways eastern philosophy really isnt that much different than western philosophy. It
really adds to my essay because it gives a totally different cultural idea of individuality,
which is very important to add to the variety of my essay. It is more or less totally factual
based, using research to support the relatively unknown idea that the east did have place
some sort of importance in the individual. The ideas brought forward in this text are
relatively specific, just simply focusing on the individual in society and providing factual
evidence to support claims. It is obviously written for a specific, well-informed audience
because it focuses on a specific, complex idea of individuality. It really helped me gain
more of a cultural understanding of the individual in different philosophies.