Like most philosophies, transcendentalism has more than its fair share of pros and cons. And while we cannot hope to do justice to all of them here, we can at least deal with one or two.

First, the pros. The main thing that transcendentalism has in its favor is its fierce individualism. Transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson strongly believed that the most important unit in any given society is the individual rather than the collective. The individual is the bearer of rights, both natural and artificial, and as such is almost sacred. That being the case, it is only the individual who can decide what is right for themselves. They must never do something because other people tell them to do it or because society expects them to act in a certain way.

As we can infer from this point, transcendentalists set great store by people doing their own thing. Only in this way is it possible for someone to be true to themselves. Yet far too many people are unwilling or unable to do their own thing. They spend most of their lives just going with the flow, with behaving in certain ways simply because it is the done thing or the socially acceptable thing to do.

Transcendentalism, to its credit, has no time for such mindless conformity. It exhorts people to have the confidence to look inside themselves and do what comes naturally to them, irrespective of what other people may say.

Now, let's look at the downsides. The main drawback of transcendentalism is its impracticality. Not everyone can turn their back on society like Thoreau and go off and live alone in a cabin somewhere. Most of us have no choice but to remain in society and make our way in the world. Most of us have family and work responsibilities, and these invariably involve remaining in society.

They also require us to conform to the rules of society. It is in this regard that transcendentalism errs. Not all conformity is mindless or unnecessary; some level of adherence to common social norms and standards is essential for the good order and stability of society. We may well find many of these norms irksome, even at times, restrictive.

But all too often they're necessary for the protection of life, liberty, and property, and we simply cannot do without them. However, transcendentalists are unable to grasp this point as they hold that the only rules worth following are those we give to ourselves as individuals. And in any functioning society, that's simply not the case at all.