Thoreau: A Man for All Research Proposal

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The ideal would be for human beings to be free, perfectly free, but this is not possible, Rousseau notes, given that a totally savage and free world means that the strongest person dominates the weaker people around him -- and the strongest will eventually establish a tyranny to serve his own aims, not the needs and rights of others. Locke also believed that a collective society was necessary to protect life, liberty, and property, and so long as ethical individuals enforced the system according to a rule of law, this was superior to a total state of nature. This form of collective protection often subtly threatened freedom, Thoreau believed, in a way that was just as damaging as political oppression, so he left for Walden to isolate himself from all of society.

Thoreau attempted to live an ideal, and to make his life meaningful, not living a slave to conventions and sacrificing his liberties to be part of a society. Thoreau took a more benign view of the individual than either Locke or Rousseau, and a more dim view of the human collective. The persistence of slavery, of people working at occupations they despised, and other negative aspects of the social contract chafed against Thoreau's sensibility of what was right and good about being alive. Thoreau wished to escape what he and other human beings sacrificed to be part of society. While Rousseau and Locke might argue that the benefits of society, particularly one with differentiated systems of labor, was that it freed individuals to create some civilization and culture, Thoreau saw these superfluities beyond what was necessary for survival as absurd, more to please others than to please the self.

To create an authentic existence, Thoreau returned to the farm. Yes, even as a homesteader, he was still dependant upon others, for trade and for assistance, even if not for basic companionship.

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Today, as much as we might like to live outside of society, it is impossible to ignore others. Even living a Walden-like existence means that a person has to be concerned about how his or her neighbors treat the environment. And in terms of solitude and society, we as individuals are both more and less socially engaged than Thoreau's neighbors. Our culture is more connected than ever before. We are only a cell phone call away from everyone we know but we can also make the choice, as did Thoreau, to limit our use of technology and participation in certain aspects of society that we dislike. In fact, we can isolate ourselves more in solitary pastimes, like surfing the Internet rather than going to the country store for supplies, and we have more options in terms of where we can move and who we associate with, in terms of family, friends, neighbors, and individuals of different racial and ethnic groups. Even if one society seems too constraining, we can break that informal social contract and find another one. We have the options to make more choices, both positive and negative ones. In choosing to pare down our personal lives, we can find our authentic selves. And if more and more individuals do this, modern society will slowly change and evolve in a better, simpler direction, one garden at a time, one small Walden at a time......

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