Other forms: transcendentalists
Someone who calls herself a transcendentalist believes in the ideas behind the philosophy called "transcendentalism." Among other things, a transcendentalist sees humans and nature as inherently good.
Transcendentalism became popular in mid-1800s New England, when many transcendentalists felt unhappy with the current state of society. Some famous transcendentalists include Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, both of whom wrote about the transcendentalist beliefs in the importance of each individual's self-reliance. Most transcendentalists were vegetarians and had progressive views on women's rights. The word itself comes from the Latin transcendere, "climb over or beyond."