Description
Book SynopsisHenry David Thoreau was caught at a critical turn in the history of science, between the ebb of Romanticism and the rising tide of positivism. This book shows how he responded to the challenges posed by the new ideal of objectivity not by rejecting the scientific world view, but by humanizing it for himself.
Trade Review"Tauber's work will amply reward persistent thumbing. It deserves praise as a novel, often stringent philosophical reading of Thoreau, one that properly places him in the forefront of ecological debate in our time." * Thoreau Society Bulletin *
"Tauber is a sensible thinker who possesses the uncommon merit of recognizing which are the most interesting questions. Moreover, he has a good eye for the range of connections to various intellectual traditions, and this is stimulating, as is his effort to locate Thoreau's significance for contemporary debates. Most importantly, one of his recurring themes—Thoreau's view that human knowing as such necessarily has a moral cast--is rightly a perennial one for thoughtful human beings, and always worth reflecting upon." * Philosophy and Literature *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The Eternal Now 2. Three Apple Trees 3. Another Apple Tree 4. Thoreau at the Crossroads 5. Thoreau's Personalized Facts 6. Thoreau's Moral Universe 7. The Self-Positing I Epilogue: Mending the World Notes References Index
