Transcendentalism Transcendentalism is a belief in a higher reality than that found in sense experience, or belief in a higher kind of knowledge than achieved by human reason. Transcendentalism revolves around the existence of absolute goodness, something beyond description and knowable, ultimately only through intuition. The term Transcendentalism became applied almost exclusively to doctrines of metaphysical idealism. In it’s most specific usage, Transcendentalism refers to a literary and philosophical movement that developed in the United States. Transcendentalism opposed the strict ritualism and dogmatic theology of established religious institutions. Transcende