"Circles" is an essay by
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
, first published in 1841.
The
essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
consists of a
philosophical
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
view of the vast array of circles one may find throughout
nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
. In the opening line of the essay Emerson states "The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end".
[The Centrality of the Center in Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Circles" http://christle.freeshell.org/essays/circles.pdf. (PDF download) Retrieved 2010-01-21.]
See also
*
Oikeiôsis
In Stoic ethics, ''oikeiôsis'' ( grc, οἰκείωσις, la, conciliatio) is a technical term variously translated as "appropriation," "orientation," "familiarization," "affinity," "affiliation," and "endearment."Richter, Daniel S, ''Cosmopol ...
References
External links
Text of ''Circles''
Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
1841 essays
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