Background
for Teachers
Walden.
Walden can be a very tough read for anyone, but especially
for high school students. In this module, students will read only
four sections of the text: “Economy”, “What I
lived for”, “Higher Laws”, and “Conclusion”.
It will help students to comprehend their reading before classroom
discussion/work by giving them an overall ‘ethical theme’
for each chapter, and for them to treat each chapter as Thoreau’s
investigation/case study of that theme. Thoreau will also challenge
the reader to improve their understanding of that theme in their
own lives, and to use that understanding to live their life as excellently
as possible. Having students identify the rhetorical passages where
Thoreau is challenging them will also be productive.
Specific
guidelines for selected chapters is provided below:
Virtue
Ethics:
Virtue
ethics deal with the realm of judgments concerning human flourishing,
excellence, and happiness. It also seeks to define the nature
of the good life, the well lived life. The field finds it origins
with Aristotle and his list of noble virtues, but both modern
virtue ethics and Thoreau seek to go beyond Aristotle’s
definition.
• virtue ethics judges our character and our personal achievements.
• according to virtue ethics, virtues are properly defined
only in relation to concepts of the good, successful, and happy
life.
• the good life is not defined primarily as the dutiful
life (following norms and fulfilling obligations), but these things
are a component of a well lived life.
• virtue ethics seeks an enlightened self interest.
• Walden can be read as an experiment in virtue
ethics, discovering, creating, and defining them, and testing
them in the practice of everyday life. Walden is seeking
to discover the origin and nature of the good life, and the ethics
that will enable and nourish the good life.
• the good life is a life of human excellence, of happiness
and fulfillment of potential.
Environmental
Ethics:
Environmental
ethics explores the moral relationship of humans to their environment.
It deals with questions of the value of nature.
• Environmental ethics asks if our moral, ethical, and value
judgments are anthropocentric, which means that our ethical and
value statements are made from a point of view which places humans
at the center. In other words, all value decisions are based only
on human impact and meaning. Instead, is it possible to make these
decisions from a neutral, objective point of view. In other words,
make the best decision from a non-human point of view, if that
is even possible.
• Environmental ethics deal with the difference between
instrumental versus intrinsic value. In other words, does the
value of nature depend on the uses humans find for it, and from
its market value, or does nature have a value in and of itself.
Is Walden Pond only instrumentally valuable because humans can
farm the land, or sell the timber found on it, or does it have
an intrinsic value in and of itself?
• Walden can be read as one of the first investigations
of these issues.
“Economy”:
Of
the four chapters read in this module, “Economy” will
probably give students the most difficulty. The chapter deals
with the beginning of Thoreau’s experiment at Walden Pond,
and his reflections on his previous life within society. In terms
of our model, the primary way to discuss this chapter with students
is in terms of “The Good Life”. In this chapter, Thoreau
judges everyday society and the manner in which people are living
their lives. He finds both wanting, declaring famously, “the
mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Thoreau will
make the case for how poorly most people live as a defense of
his decision to go to Walden to make an experiment of life, to
discover what life is. Thoreau’s justification of his project
is one of the first ethical decisions he makes; since accepted
life is a failure, one has every right to live differently.
The
title of the chapter “Economy” provides a key to one
of the primary rhetorical schemes Thoreau uses to make his case.
Thoreau will take terms from capitalist/commercial life, like
economy or trade, and redefine them so that they speak not of
the economy of goods and money, but of the economy of life. Living
will become his trade, a good life his reward. Additionally, this
can be read as a condemnation of commercial life, which most Americans
place at the center of their lives, Most Americans define the
good life as commercial success; Thoreau challenges this.
Another
rhetorical scheme Thoreau uses is the language of ‘experiments”.
These usually indicate his desire to explore life, and to find
a definition of the good life.
“Where
I Lived; What I Lived For”:
“Conclusion”:
These
two chapters can be taught in conjunction. These chapters can
be read as Thoreau’s discovery and enumeration of his virtue
ethics. Throughout these chapters, Thoreau makes reference to
‘living deliberatively’. This terminology refers to
virtue ethics; a code for living one’s life to the best
of one’s ability, of improving one’s character and
actively engaging the challenges of life. Thoreau will discover
and present his virtue ethics as he goes about living at Walden.
Deliberation is the key to living well for Thoreau, and lack of
effort is the main culprit. Also, these chapters show that Thoreau
doesn’t want analytic or speculative answers to his questions;
rather, he wants to test his ideas in actual life. A real virtue
ethics will have real world applications.
“Higher
Laws”:
This
chapter can be read as Thoreau’s presentation of early environmental
ethics. Thoreau will present issues ripe for student discussion,
such as the value of land, the morality of hunting, and the ethics
of vegetarianism. It is interesting to note, that Thoreau does
not condemn hunting, but sees it as something everyone probably
should experience. Rather, Thoreau wonders that if abstaining
from hunting speaks to a ‘higher’ part of human nature.
Likewise in his discussion of vegetarianism, he examines all aspects
of eating meat, from moral issues of killing, to the practicable
question of the labor involved in killing and preparing it.
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