Revue française d'études américaines 2002- 1 (no91)| ISSN | ISSN numérique : en cours | ISBN : | page 80 à 86 Distribution électronique Cairn pour les éditions Belin. © Belin. Tous droits réservés pour tous pays. Il est interdit, sauf accord préalable et écrit de l’éditeur, de reproduire (notamment par photocopie) partiellement ou totalement le présent article, de le stocker dans une banque de données ou de le communiquer au public sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit.

ABSTRACT — Western philosophy owes the United States of America two original trends of thought: transcendentalism and pragmatism. The present debate on the influence of Emerson on Wittgenstein raises the problem of the relation between Mind (as a national entity) and any individual thinking subject of a nation. Is the individual the replica of a Universal which thinks for each of us, as Wittgenstein argued? Or is “each man a state”, in other words “the root and seed of democracy”, as Emerson, and John Dewey after him, thought?

Western philosophy owes the United States of America two original trends of thought: transcendentalism and pragmatism. The present debate on the influence of Emerson on Wittgenstein raises the problem of the relation between Mind (as a national entity) and any individual thinking subject of a nation. Is the individual the replica of a Universal which thinks for each of us, as Wittgenstein argued? Or is “each man a state”, in other words “the root and seed of democracy”, as Emerson, and John Dewey after him, thought?
Keywords : , Emerson, Dewey, Peirce, Wittgenstein, Democracy.