Thoreau and the organic criticism in the light of a press debate

Abstract

In this paper I discuss the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) in the light of the so called organic criticism, which I would like to introduce into the literature concerning Thoreau. The apropos of the paper is the press debate about the hypocrisy, misantrophy and the harmful aim of Thoreau’s philosphy – the press debate which Kathryn Schulz started in her New Yorker article Pond Scum. Why do we love Henry David Thoreau? in the fall of 2015. The article is part of a traditional way of criticizing Thoreau (James Russell Lowell and Robert Louis Stevenson are the main figures of this negative way). There were countless responses, which here I first standardize, then comapre the consequences.

In my opinion, if one reads Thoreau in the terms of the organic criticism, the accusations of the traditional criticism are bypassable. My thesis here is that Thoreau’s philosophy is not normative, but he reminds himself and all of us, that the human life is dynamic and infinite, concerning the possibilities.