Nineteenth-Century Individualism and the Market Economy

Abstract

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Ford’s metaphysics: On the Transcendental origins of Henry Ford’s Fordism

“…The period in which Emerson wrote (roughly beginning with his essay Nature in 1836 and ending with his The Conduct of Life in 1860) 3 has been understood as coinciding with the emergence of America's market-based economy around which its citizens have continued to negotiate their national identity (Bellah 1985, 42-43;Sellers 1992;Birch 1995;Plotica 2017) (Sandage 2005, 3). This has led to his writings being considered central to both the political character of 19 th Century America (Augst 1999) and a precursor to the contemporary debates and understandings of selfhood in the 20 th and 21 st centuries (Taylor 1992;Lysaker 2008;Bloom 2001).…”

“…Rather than a coincidence, the emergence of Emerson's writing at a time when American capitalism and entrepreneurship 'came of age' has profound cultural and historical implications, which was revealed through the specific way in which Emerson's writing and thought relate to these economic functions (Teichgraeber 1995;Plotica 2017;Kern 1940;Gilmore 2010). This is both in what early industrial entrepreneurship was widely perceived as allowing for in material terms -'[f]or Emerson, entrepreneurship and invention were liberating alternatives to either slavery for some or hard labor for all' (Nye 2004, 106) -and the way Emerson's sage articulation of his individualist philosophy was interpreted as its national and intellectual justification (see West 1989, 25-27).…”

“…Contained in this triangulation is a specific organizational logic that seeks a productive harmony between the three component parts at a metaphysical as well as a material level. In Emersonian terms, the notion of an intrinsic 'harmony', 'balance' or 'natural order' between things is a central aspect of his Transcendental philosophy, especially in relation to his understanding of commerce and the emerging market economy (Cayton 1992;Plotica 2017). This theme is articulated most directly in his essay, 'Compensation' (1841).…”

“…This has been well-documented as being rooted in the notion of American 'individualism', which was gaining traction at the time of Emerson's publication of 'Self Reliance' (1841). Despite the term 'individualism' not occurring in his essay, Emerson was writing during the period of America's emerging market economy of the 19 th Century (Cayton 1992;Plotica 2017), This contributed to the severing of the organic connection between production and consumption (Arendt 1958, 79-174), which would be central to the notion of the 'Fordist deal.' This has led several cultural commentators to suggest that there is a vulgar tendency in twentieth and twenty-first century interpretations of Emerson to be little more than a rhetorical means of justifying capitalistic expansion, individual profit and bourgeois individualism (Newfield 1991;Mitchell 1997).…”