[Revised entry by Rick Anthony Furtak on March 2, 2023.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) was an American philosopher, poet, environmental scientist, and political activist whose major work, Walden, draws upon each of these various identities in meditating upon the concrete problems of living in the world as a human being. He sought to revive a conception of philosophy as a way of life, not only a mode of reflective thought and discourse. Thoreau’s work was informed by an eclectic variety of sources. He was well-versed in classical Greek and Roman philosophy (and…

Originally appeared on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Read More