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John Muir, a naturalist and preservation pioneer of nature took an ethical stand for land ethics when he shared his thoughts that all living things are equally important parts of the land, and animals and plants have as much right to live and survive as people do. In the 1600’s when Europeans began to settle in North America, there were 1037 million acres of forestland. Today, a little over 700 million acres in the United States is forestland—only thanks to preservation laws. In the 1800’s, that number of tress and forests decreased tremendously because expansion and progression recklessly exploited natural resources by clear-cutting forest to use wood for fuel and building supplies.
In A Defense of Abortion Thompson presents an argument against the morality of abortion by showing the superiority of women’s rights through several different analogous cases. The case of focus will be case eight, “ A Selfless Brother’s Box of Chocolates.” In scenario one, Thompson argues that an older brother has a box of chocolates while his younger brother has nothing; the question of appeal is does the younger brother automatically have a right to these chocolates? The box of chocolates represents a woman’s body while the younger brother represents the fetus. Although it would be nice for the older brother (mother) to share his box of chocolates (mothers body) he is not obligated to share them with anyone even if he is perceived as a selfish, greedy, or a stingy person.
Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless embrace beliefs from the Transcendental philosophy. In the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer and the excerpts from Walden by Henry David Thoreau readers can see connections between the beliefs of McCandless and Thoreau. They show that McCandless and Thoreau share the Transcendental beliefs of being one with nature, having self-wisdom, and simplicity. Parallels exist between the Transcendental beliefs of Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau.
I am writing this letter in response to the excerpt from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden that was recently included in your newspaper The Dial II. After reading the excerpt, I spent time analyzing the different philosophies that Thoreau portrayed in his essay and I came to the conclusion that I agree with some of his concepts but disagree with most. First off at the beginning of the essay, Thoreau states that “as long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or county jail.” I partially disagree with this quote because I think it is important that I commit myself to different tasks and duties in order to hold myself accountable.
Both Thoreau and Mccandless took steps to live apart from others to simply free themselves from the limitations of society. As a matter of fact, the most notable similarity these two men shared was their strong disagreement with the attitude of the governments they lived with. Currency and government rule was nothing but an obstacle in their pursuit for more independent lives. Unlike Thoreau, “Mccandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature…but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul”(Krakauer 183). He did not know what Thoreau already knew, as a result, Mccandless learned later that “an extended stay in the wilderness inevitably directs one’s attention outward as much as inward, and it is impossible to live off the land without developing both a subtle understanding of, and a strong emotional bond with, that land and all it holds”(Krakauer 183).
I think that Thoreau means when he says, "The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels?" is that people are too often stuck in reality. I believe that he is trying to say that individuals need to be themselves and stop worrying about what society thinks of them. Thoreau is telling people to make their own paths of life and strive on what they think is true and base their live on their own hopes and dreams. Henry David Thoreau’s message in the final paragraph is stating that our lives are based off of perspective. Everything we see is through the idea of perspective.
The authors main point is that when you are in nature it blocks out any outside influence and allows you to think for yourself. Being alone for Emerson allowed for him to feel different and be at one with his surroundings. Thoreau’s short story, “Civil Disobedience” and Emerson’s short story “Nature” are examples of Transcendentalism because they include intuition, non conformity, spiritual well being, and individualism.
At this point, the ideas of conservation and preservation had split. People now had to decide whether to advocate for the preservation of nature or for the sustainable use of nature’s natural resources. John Muir argued that “everywhere, everywhere over all the blessed continent, there was beauty, and melody, and kindly, wholesome, foodful abundance” (American Forests). On the other hand, people like Gifford Pinchot argued that natural resources should be sustainably used, but should also meet the needs of humanity (Keel). In the end, the
Henry David Thoreau was a philosopher, poet, and a very outspoken person about society. He discusses his opinions on how people should live in his essay “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.” Thoreau's philosophy of simplicity and individualism and self-sufficiency poses many dangers for communities as a whole. Although there are many setbacks, his philosophy is, however, still viable today. Thoreau strongly advocates self-sufficiency and individualism in this essay.
He wrote about how technology and new lifestyles were continuously replacing what nature had established. He pointed out how nature was the window for people to find their own identity, which was fogged by the changes in society the industrial revolution had caused. Then, he continued to elaborate on how pure nature truly was by stating that all living things survive and live because of nature. Thoreau believes that society had lost itself in the tangles of its discoveries, and points to the solution of going back to
Henry David Thoreau especially supported the interaction between man and nature. With his experiment at Walden, he addresses a modern concept known as minimalism, focusing on the way one must supply for himself with his basic necessities. His intentions were not to isolate himself, but moreso to separate himself from a life dependent upon others. Through his actions, he is able to criticise society and many of their needs.
Consequently, what Thoreau proposed was simplicity rejecting modern civilization to return to nature and let the individual to develop his/her highest possibilities. Thoreau not only made a critique of the modern society as Emerson did, but also he practiced his ideology: he experienced that life is better without crowd, luxuries and complexity. The transcendentalist poet spent two year close to nature. He lived at Walden Pond where he wrote entire journals recounting his experience. Thoreau is well known for his book “Walden” (1854).
As evident by this quotation by Thoreau, his motives purely consist of living in the idealistic states of nature rather than that of “civilization”. Thoreau also stated, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life…”- (taken from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”). Thoreau, in this statement shows that he is completely self reliant in the sense that he alone went out to nature to reap what he could and survive by his merits alone, sustaining himself only on what nature had to offer. While conversely McCandless could only survive with a
Why I Went to the Woods by Henry David Thoreau is a piece of literature taken from the book Walden that discusses Thoreau’s desire to experience life and it's meaning by living by the most simple terms possible. Thoreau lived off the land, built his own home, hunted and fished his own food. Through these things, Thoreau experienced how life is lived without luxury and only with the raw basics. Although his passion for the natural world shows through his writing his goal is not to persuade others to follow in his footsteps by going out and living in nature. Thoreau wanted others to follow him by living their best life which would be achieved by following their passions and the things they enjoy.
When Thoreau mentions that many philosopher import the woods to themselves, it must be for a reason. The woods and nature are needed in life, or human life may perish without