Henry David Thoreau and the Moral Agency of KnowingUniversity of California Press, 2001 - 317 páginas In his graceful philosophical account, Alfred I. Tauber shows why Thoreau still seems so relevant today--more relevant in many respects than he seemed to his contemporaries. Although Thoreau has been skillfully and thoroughly examined as a writer, naturalist, mystic, historian, social thinker, Transcendentalist, and lifelong student, we may find in Tauber's portrait of Thoreau the moralist a characterization that binds all these aspects of his career together. Thoreau was caught at a critical turn in the history of science, between the ebb of Romanticism and the rising tide of positivism. He responded to the challenges posed by the new ideal of objectivity not by rejecting the scientific worldview, but by humanizing it for himself. Tauber portrays Thoreau as a man whose moral vision guided his life's work. Each of Thoreau's projects reflected a self-proclaimed "metaphysical ethics," an articulated program of self-discovery and self-knowing. By writing, by combining precision with poetry in his naturalist pursuits and simplicity with mystical fervor in his daily activity, Thoreau sought to live a life of virtue--one he would characterize as marked by deliberate choice. This unique vision of human agency and responsibility will still seem fresh and contemporary to readers at the start of the twenty-first century. |
Contenido
THE ETERNAL NOW | 23 |
THREE APPLE TREES | 45 |
ANOTHER APPLE TREE | 75 |
THOREAU AT THE CROSSROADS | 104 |
THOREAUS PERSONALIZED FACTS | 140 |
THOREAUS MORAL UNIVERSE | 163 |
THE SELFPOSITING I | 195 |
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Términos y frases comunes
aesthetic appreciate attempt aware beauty becomes Buell capture chapter character cognitive Coleridge consciousness construction context critical culture defined discussion divine domain dreams Duston Emerson empiricism ence epistemological eternity ethical experience facts faculty Fichte Fichte's fundamental Goethe Goethe's Hannah Duston Henry David Thoreau holism human ibid ical ideal identity imagination individual insight integrated intellectual issue Journal entry knowledge literary live meaning memory Merrimack Rivers metaphysical mind moral universe mystical natural history naturalist nature writing nature's Nietzsche notion object observation offered orientation ourselves past Peck perceive perception perspective philosophical poet poetic positivism positivist postmodern present radical rational reading reality regarded relation rience Romantic Romanticism Sattelmeyer scientific scientist self-consciousness selfhood sense social solipsism sought spiritual standing structure Tauber theme theory Thoreau Thoreau's moral thought tion transcendental Transcendentalists truth understanding unified unity University Press virtue virtue ethics vision Walden Pond Week wild
Referencias a este libro
Environmental Renaissance: Emerson, Thoreau, & the Systems of Nature Andrew McMurry Vista previa limitada - 2003 |
An Introductory Philosophy of Medicine: Humanizing Modern Medicine James A. Marcum Vista previa limitada - 2008 |