Lessons from Walden: Thoreau and the Crisis of American Democracy
Lessons from Walden: Thoreau and the Crisis of American Democracy
English | 2020 | ISBN: 0268107335 | 259 Pages | PDF | 5 MB
English | 2020 | ISBN: 0268107335 | 259 Pages | PDF | 5 MB
Throughout this original and passionate book, Bob Pepperman Taylor presents a wide-ranging inquiry into the nature and implications of Henry David Thoreau's thought in Walden and Civil Disobedience. Taylor pursues this inquiry in three chapters, each focusing on a single theme: chapter 1 examines simplicity and the ethics of "voluntary poverty," chapter 2 looks at civil disobedience and the role of "conscience" in democratic politics, and chapter 3 concentrates on what "nature" means to us today and whether we can truly "learn from nature." Taylor considers Thoreau's philosophy, and the philosophical problems he raises, from the perspective of a wide range of thinkers and commentators drawn from history, philosophy, the social sciences, and popular media, breathing new life into Walden and asking how it is alive for us today.