Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
	Thoreau in 1856
Born	David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817; Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	May 6, 1862 (aged 44); Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education
Alma mater	Harvard College
Philosophical work
Era	19th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Transcendentalism
Main interests	Ethics; poetry; religion; politics; biology; philosophy; history;
Notable ideas	Abolitionism; tax resistance; development criticism; civil disobedience; conscientious objection; direct action; environmentalism; simple living;
Signature

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher.^[2] A leading transcendentalist,^[3] he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument in favor of citizen disobedience against an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and attention to practical detail.^[4] He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.^[4]

Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the fugitive slave law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of notable figures such as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.^[5]

Thoreau is sometimes referred to retrospectively as an anarchist,^[6]^[7] but may perhaps be more properly regarded as a proto-anarchist.

^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Henry David Thoreau | Biography & Works". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
^ Howe, Daniel Walker, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. ISBN 978-0195078947, p. 623.
^ ^a ^b Thoreau, Henry David. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers / Walden / The Maine Woods / Cape Cod. Library of America. ISBN 0940450275.
^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson; Johnson, Alvin Saunders, eds. (1937). Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, p. 12.
^ Gross, David, ed. The Price of Freedom: Political Philosophy from Thoreau's Journals. p. 8. ISBN 978-1434805522. "The Thoreau of these journals distrusted doctrine, and, though it is accurate I think to call him an anarchist, he was by no means doctrinaire in this either."

[:6-1] Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] "Henry David Thoreau | Biography & Works". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.

[3] Howe, Daniel Walker, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. ISBN 978-0195078947, p. 623.

[ReferenceA-4] Thoreau, Henry David. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers / Walden / The Maine Woods / Cape Cod. Library of America. ISBN 0940450275.

[:2-5] Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[6] Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson; Johnson, Alvin Saunders, eds. (1937). Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, p. 12.

[7] Gross, David, ed. The Price of Freedom: Political Philosophy from Thoreau's Journals. p. 8. ISBN 978-1434805522. "The Thoreau of these journals distrusted doctrine, and, though it is accurate I think to call him an anarchist, he was by no means doctrinaire in this either."

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