Thoreau's Walden Research Paper Outline

Introduction to Philosophy

Research Paper - Thoreau’s Walden

A.

Thoreau’s Walden central theme is about how the ‘modern’ work-centric way of life is harmful, and how we have the power to make a better life for ourselves. The story Walden is a philosophical work published by Henry David Thoreau in 1854. In Walden, Thoreau chronicles his journeys living in a log cabin, along with the lessons he learned during his time there. The primary text of Walden can be summarized by the final paragraph, on page seven, in the chapter Economy, which essentially says that making a change to a better path is always possible. This passage is key to understanding the rest of the text because it also touches on Thoreau’s ideas about nature, work, and change.

Thoreau grew up in Concord Massachusetts in a village that “even when he grew ambivalent about . . . he never grew ambivalent about its lovely setting of woodlands, streams, and meadows” (“Henry David Thoreau”, Britannica). Thoreau studied at Harvard from the age of sixteen to the age of twenty. During his time at Harvard Thoreau became friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson, a fellow philosopher with a focus on Transcendentalism who had a great impact on Thoreau and his philosophy.

After graduating Thoreau wanted a job in teaching but struggled with keeping a job working with his father and brother. Thoreau only worked with his brother for three years until his brother got sick and Thoreau had to search for a new job again.

Thoreau started his literary career in 1837 at the urging of his friend Emerson where he wrote many poems and essays. Some of Thoreau’s poems and essays ended up being published in his friend Emerson’s magazine at least until the magazine stopped operating. Thoreau’s brother John died in 1842 and during that time he stayed with his friend Emerson. Thoreau took up a job as a tutor and later tried to sell his books in New York but failed, becoming disappointed with city life. Thoreau returned to Massachusetts in 1843, where he worked for his father

In Thoreau's essay “Civil Disobedience” he argued that it was important to oppose a government that supported beliefs you thought were wrong.

Thoreau had a large influence on both politics and future philosophy. Thoreau influenced notable figures such as Mohandas Gandhi, Ernest Hemmingway, John F. Kennedy, Sinclair Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr. along with many others. Thoreau was popular among naturalists, anarchists and Transcendentalists.

Some of Thoreau’s best-known ideas include civil disobedience and simple living and environmentalism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy shows Thoreau’s ethics and beliefs including his best-known ideas. In the subsection “Nature and Human Existence” the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy talks both about Thoreau's ties with nature, and simple living. One of the issues the section discusses is how Thoreau doesn’t consider aesthetic beauty to be real and how he “exhorts us to unclutter and simplify our lives, by eliminating the supposed necessities that can entrap us when we mistakenly construe them as essential” (“Henry David Thoreau” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). One of Thoreau’s key ideas is that people don’t need as much as they think they do, and that people will be okay with less. In Thoreau’s time in the cabin, he felt fulfilled regardless of the material goods he did or didn’t