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Representative Men · Theme
Unity and Variety
How Representative Men develops Unity and Variety.
A central philosophical tension between the One (unity, identity, law) and the Many (variety, difference, particularity) is examined through figures like Plato, who sought to reconcile these opposing forces.
Where it surfaces
- Plato; or, the Philosopher
Emerson emphasizes Plato's ability to unify diverse elements—logic, poetry, mathematics, mysticism—into a coherent system, and his doctrine that the philosopher must comprehend the whole.
- VII: Goethe; or, the Writer
Goethe's scientific insights, such as the leaf as the unit of botany and the vertebra as the unit of the skeleton, demonstrate a search for unity underlying the variety of forms.