单选题 Despite their many differences of temperament and of literary perspective, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman share certain beliefs. Common to all these writers is their humanistic perspective. Its basic premises are that humans are the spiritual center of the universe and that in them alone is the clue to nature, history, and ultimately the cosmos itself. Without denying outright the existence either of a deity or of brute matter, this perspective nevertheless rejects them as exclusive principles of interpretation and prefers to explain humans and the world in terms of humanity itself. This preference is expressed most clearly in the transcendentalist principle that the structure of the universe literally duplicates the structure of the individual self. Therefore, all knowledge begins with self-knowledge.
This common perspective is almost always universalized. Its emphasis is not upon the individual as a particular European or American, but upon the human as universal, freed from the accidents of times, space, birth, and talent. Thus, for Emerson, the "American Scholar" turns out to be simply "Man Thinking". While, for Whitman, the "Song of Myself" merges imperceptibly into a song of all the "children of Adam" where "every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you".
Also common to all the five writers is the belief that individual virtue and happiness depend upon self-realization, which, in turn, depends upon the harmonious reconciliation of two universal psychological tendencies. First, the self-asserting impulse of the individual to withdraw, to remain unique and separate, and to be responsible only to himself or herself. Second, the self-transcending impulse of the individual to embrace the whole world in the experience of a single moment and to know and become one with that world. These conflicting impulses can be seen in the democratic ethic. Democracy advocates individualism, the preservation of the individual's freedom and self-expression. But the democratic self is torn between the duty to self, which is implied by the concept of liberty, and the duty to society, which is implied by the concepts of equality and fraternity.
A third assumption common to the five writers is that intuition and imagination offer a surer road to truth than does abstract logic or scientific method. It is illustrated by their emphasis upon introspection——their belief that the clue to external nature is to be found in the inner world of individual psychology——and by their interpretation of experience as, in essence, symbolic. Both these stresses presume an organic relationship between the self and the cosmos of which only intuition and imagination can properly take account. These writers' faith in the imagination and in themselves as practitioners of imagination led them to conceive of the writer as a seer and enabled them to achieve supreme confidence in their own moral and metaphysical insights.

单选题 The author's discussion of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman is primarily concerned with explaining ______.
A. some of their beliefs about the difficulties involved in self-realization
B. some of their beliefs concerning the world and the place that humanity occupies in the universal order
C. some of their beliefs concerning the relationship between humanism and democracy
D. the way some of their beliefs are shaped by differences in temperament and literary outlook

单选题 The author quotes Whitman primarily in order to ______.
A. show that the poet does not agree with Emerson
B. indicate the way the poet uses the humanist ideal to praise himself
C. suggest that the poet adapts the basic premises of humanism to his own individual outlook on the world
D. illustrate a way the poet express the relationship of the individual to the humanistic universe

单选题 According to the passage, the five writers object to the scientific method primarily because they think it ______.
A. is not the best way to obtain an understanding of the relationship between the individual and the cosmos
B. is so specialized that it leads to an understanding of separate parts of the universe but not of the relationships among those parts
C. cannot provide an adequate explanation of intuition and imagination
D. prevents people from recognizing the symbolic nature of experience

单选题 It can be inferred that intuition is important to the five writers primarily because it provides them with ______.
A. information useful for understanding abstract logic and scientific method
B. the discipline needed in the search for truth
C. inspiration for their best writing
D. clues to the interpretation of symbolic experience

单选题 It can be inferred that the idea of "an organic relationship between the self and the cosmos" is necessary to the thinking of the five writers because such a relationship ______.
A. enables them to assert the importance of the democratic ethic
B. justifies their concept of the freedom of the individual
C. sustains their faith in the existence of an individual
D. is the foundation of their humanistic view of existence