Philosophy of Henry Thoreau
Subtitle: Ethics, Politics, and Nature
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2019
Language: eng
Number of pages: 170
ISBN-13: 9781350079021
Subjects: Thoreau, henry david, 1817-1862; Philosophy, american
Description: "Henry Thoreau is widely considered to be one of the greatest nature writers, among whose best-known works are Walden and Walking. In this book, Lester Hunt shows that his writings have a compelling philosophical dimension as well. Thoreau seldom argues for his ideas the way other philosophers do. Rather than setting up proofs designed to trap the reader into agreeing with him, he challenges the reader -- by means of narratives, jokes, questions, and paradoxes -- to recognize possibilities previously unknown and unexplored. Thoreau's own explorations led him to several distinctively philosophical theories: an intuitionist metaethics, an ethics based on virtue and self-realization, a politics that is fundamentally individualist and anarchist, and a secular religion in which nature is pre-eminent."--Bloomsbury Publishing.