From Self-Reform to Social Reform: a Study of Thoreau's Social and Political Thoughts/DE LA RÉFORME DU SOI À LA RÉFORME SOCIALE: UNE ÉTUDE SUR LA PENSÉES SOCIALE ET POLITIQUE DE THOREAU

Abstract:

Despite the importance of his social and political thoughts, Henry David Thoreau is mostly studied as a writer of Transcendentalism and nature writings. Actually, Thoreau expresses many important ideas on social and political problems in his works. Through reading Thoreau's main political writings, this essay attempts to comment on his social and political thoughts from its four constitutive aspects, i.e., self-reform as the basis of social reform, strategies and forms of passive resistance, critique of the division of labor and emphasis on the importance of action. It argues that the significance of Thoreau's social and political thoughts lies in his insight in seeing …