Acta Iadertina, Vol. 14 No. 2, 2017.
Preliminary communication
Thoreau’s Walden as a possible paradigm of bioethical education
Vladimir Jelkić
; Sveučilište u Osijeku, Filozofski fakultet u Osijeku, Odsjek za filozofiju
Jelena Lacković
Abstract
On July 4, 1845. Henry David Thoreau went to the Walden Pond, where he built a cabin and lived in it for two years and two days. About that period he wrote ‘’Walden’’, the book which is, along with ‘’Civil Disobedience’’, his most famous work. He was convinced that a philosopher had to be ahead of his time even with his outward form of his life. The authors of this article think that ‘Walden’’ can be a paradigm of bioethical education for more than one reason. First of all, both with his personal example and his writing Thoreau points out the crucial importance of man’s relationship towards nature and non-human living creatures. He is an ecological educator in his own right, educating by his own example. Furthermore, the authors point out that Thoreau sees how the development of science and technology increases human greed and encourages activity harmful to nature. However, science can be harmonised with nature. What should be done is sensibly choose the means to keep the balance between spiritual and natural. The authors hold that Thoreau’s greatness lies in his living according to the values he deemed authentic.
Keywords
transcendentalism; nature; spirit; harmony; Thoreau
Hrčak ID:
199699
URI
Publication date:
16.4.2018.
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