Thoreau's Living Ethics

by Cafaro, Philip

• ISBN13: 9780820326108
• ISBN10: 0820326100
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Georgia Pr

Summary

Thoreau's Living Ethicsis the first full, rigorous account of Henry Thoreau's ethical philosophy. Focused onWaldenbut ranging widely across his writings, the study situates Thoreau within a long tradition of ethical thinking in the West, from the ancients to the Romantics and on to the present day. Philip Cafaro shows Thoreau grappling with important ethical questions that agitated his own society and discusses his value for those seeking to understand contemporary ethical issues.Cafaro's particular interest is in Thoreau's treatment of virtue ethics: the branch of ethics centered on personal and social flourishing. Ranging across the central elements of Thoreau's philosophy--life, virtue, economy, solitude and society, nature, and politics--Cafaro shows Thoreau developing a comprehensive virtue ethics, less based in ancient philosophy than many recent efforts and more grounded in modern life and experience. He presents Thoreau's evolutionary, experimental ethics as superior to the more static foundational efforts of current virtue ethicists.Another main focus is Thoreau's environmental ethics. The book shows Thoreau not only anticipating recent arguments for wild nature's intrinsic value, but also demonstrating how a personal connection to nature furthers self-development, moral character, knowledge, and creativity. Thoreau's life and writings, argues Cafaro, present a positive, life-affirming environmental ethics, combining respect and restraint with an appreciation for human possibilities for flourishing within nature.

Author Biography

Philip Cafaro is an assistant professor of philosophy at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

 

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
The Challenge First Responses.	1	(15)
Life	16	(29)
Awakening. Self-Culture. Our Chief End. The Good Life. Higher Goals. Pleasure and Intellect.
Virtue	45	(31)
Recovering the Ancient Concept of Virtue. Recovering the Pursuit of Virtue. Recovering Full Human Virtue. Romantic Virtue. Virtue and Duty. Resolution.
Economy	76	(30)
First Things First. Economy as Method and Metaphor. The Train to Fitchburg. The Bean Field.
Solitude and Society	106	(33)
The Virtues of Solitude. Neighbors. Friendship. Emerson and Thoreau.
Nature	139	(35)
Fishy Virtue. Higher Laws. The Bean Field. The Ponds. Challenges. Conservation.
Politics	174	(31)
Anti-slavery. Citizenship. Heroism. Anti-mammonism. Patriotism.
Foundations	205	(25)
Thoreau's Naturalism. Thoreau's Idealism. Thoreau's Experimentalism. Philosophical Foundations.
Death	230	(7)
A Note to the Reader	237	(2)
Notes	239	(20)
Bibliography	259	(6)
Index	265