Philosophy of Henry Thoreau

Henry Thoreau is widely considered to be one of the greatest nature writers among whose best-known works are <i>Walden</i>and <i>Walking</i><i>.</i> In this book Lester Hunt shows that his writings have a compelling philosophical dimension as well. <br/> <br/> Thoreau seldom argues for his ideas the way other philosophers do. Rather than setting up proofs designed to trap the reader into agreeing with him he challenges the reader - by means of narratives jokes questions and paradoxes -- to recognize possibilities previously unknown and unexplored. <br/> <br/> Thoreau's own explorations led him to several distinctively philosophical theories: an intuitionist metaethics an ethics based on virtue and self-realization a politics that is fundamentally individualist and anarchist and a secular religion in which nature is pre-eminent.