Ziviler Ungehorsam

by Henry David Thoreau

Die Gründungsurkunde für den zivilen Ungehorsam: Thoreaus kurzer Essay zählt zu den wichtigsten politischen Schriften aller Zeiten und prägte u.a. Mahatma Gandhi und Martin Luther King.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Nonfiction, Politics, School, Essays, Literature

63 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2013

About the author

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.

In 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837, taught briefly, then turned to writing and lecturing. Becoming a Transcendentalist and good friend of Emerson, Thoreau lived the life of simplicity he advocated in his writings. His two-year experience in a hut in Walden, on land owned by Emerson, resulted in the classic, Walden: Life in the Woods (1854). During his sojourn there, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican war, for which he was jailed overnight. His activist convictions were expressed in the groundbreaking On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). In a diary he noted his disapproval of attempts to convert the Algonquins "from their own superstitions to new ones." In a journal he noted dryly that it is appropriate for a church to be the ugliest building in a village, "because it is the one in which human nature stoops to the lowest and is the most disgraced." (Cited by James A. Haught in 2000 Years of Disbelief.) When Parker Pillsbury sought to talk about religion with Thoreau as he was dying from tuberculosis, Thoreau replied: "One world at a time."

Thoreau's philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. D. 1862.

More: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tho...

http://thoreau.eserver.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Da...

http://transcendentalism-legacy.tamu....

http://www.biography.com/people/henry...

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh I can't do it. Been picking it up on and off for two-plus years now to read Walden, and it feels like a waste of time to finish. It's just. so. boring. Rich dude lives in the woods and passes judgment on everyone else for not living a simpler life. Thoreau just seems so out of touch with reality. I think this book should be replaced with more diverse options in the canon.

Two stars for Walden. But I've read Civil Disobedience in the past and remember really liking it and being impressed with the writing, so I exclude that from this rating. Haven't read his other writings.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collected in this volume with Thoreau's masterpiece *Walden* is a representative selection of Thoreau's signature essays: "Civil Disobedience," "Slavery in Massachusetts," "Walking," and "Wild Apples." These works by Thoreau are among those literary texts that I enjoy more each time I read them. Every time I read Walden I find something new in it and I feel that I have never read this book before. His prose is among the most pithy and poetic. He has a sharp and dry wit that often makes me laugh out loud. Yet Thoreau may be best introduced to many readers through a literature class. He can be challenging, and many readers will no doubt have a hard time accessing the layered richness of his text immediately. Many readers may also be initially turned of by Thoreau's brusque persona, but there is much to be gained from developing a relationship with Thoreau. In *Walden* Thoreau shares with the reader his experiment with simple living. He aimed to live a more meaningful life. In "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau argues for the priority of individual consciousness over political expediency, as well as for the transformative force of symbolic non-violent resistance against moral injustice and immoral/outmoded political tradition. This important essay would inspire both Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. "Slavery in Massachusetts" both furthers this argument and becomes more radical, with the assertion that a higher moral law is superior to the laws of men. "walking" and "Wild Apples" meditate on the quality of "wildness" in nature and the human soul. This edition would have been greatly enhanced by an introduction to Thoreau and his context to help readers enter into his texts. The volume does include a significant amount of supplemental material, including selections from Thoreau's journals, as well as a collection of reviews and critical essays. It is curious that there is not an introduction to Thoreau's life and ideas.

[evaporée · Rating 3 out of 5]

i too want to know beans

[Dawn Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writings of Thoreau at face value, the descriptions of nature and his often humourous tales.
I really struggled with the criticisms that took up the second half of this tome - by the end I never wanted to read another word on Walden or Wild Apples.
Don't get me wrong, there were interesting ideas on feminism and race that were tackled by some of the critics but I ploughed through a lot of literary loam to get there!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although some parts of this were a bit challenging to get through, I really enjoyed reading Walden and taking many of Thoreau's thoughts into consideration. Civil Disobediance was also an excellent piece to read, and surprisingly relevant to today. I love how Thoreau can at times be almost excessive in his explanations, but can also summarize his points in simple, poignant sentences. I'm glad to have crossed this classic off my list!

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked the book up to read Civil Disobedience, decided to read Walden first cuz it came first in the book....I think I would have liked it better if read the other way.....

Any of yall been talkin bout that "INto the Wild" might enjoy this though....

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read every page of this, but finished 'Walden' and his essays, and I'm sure I will be reading some of the supplementary material for uni. Thoreau's writing is dense and difficult, but with some beautiful bits of language.

[Foks]

man muss es echt nicht gelesen haben

[Jessica DMJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read Walden from this text for an American Renaissance class
I've read it before and this reread was done while concussed so 👍

[Antonia Maier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pflichtlektüre für die Uni, aber trotzdem spannend und gut zu lesen. Nach wie vor sehr aktuell.

[Mike Lockwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve wavered back and forth about whether this is a 3 or 4 star read. One the one hand, I challenge much of what Thoreau posits about rejecting society and instead embracing individualism and personal transcendence. Not only does it reek of privilege to be able to take literal years out of your life to play survival monk in the not-so-wild wilderness of your friend’s property in a well established Concord, Mass, but I was particularly irritated by his assessment of others who live involuntarily harder, and thus inferior, lives than he. Now he would say that we **choose** to live harder lives, but I call bull. Thoreau dedicates all of “Baker Farm” to chastise and belittle John Field for desiring foods like eggs and beef to feed his family. In so many words, Thoreau touts how easy it was for him to build a new life for himself and ridicules Mr. Field for not dropping everything and following in his footsteps. The irony is palpable; a single man telling a father providing for his wife and children that he should have just as easy of a time uprooting and altering his life as he did.

More to this point, in “Conclusion,” Thoreau loftily challenges the reader:

“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s abode.”

Does he seriously think this sentiment, poetic and energizing as it reads, is to be taken seriously amongst his contemporaries, many of whom lead the most notable anti-slavery movements throughout the country at the time of Walden’s publication? What’s more, the country is on a crash course of war and Thoreau’s attention is set on everyone accepting their sad lots in life? I don’t buy that whatsoever.

[I could go on, but I shan’t]

Aside from my frustrations with Thoreau’s opinions on social class and mobility, I find nearly everything he has to say about nature to be riveting and insightful. Who would have guessed that a book about a pilgrimage to nature would be at its most poignant when it sticks to its subject matter?

One of the themes that stands out to me is the importance of perspective and the possibility of infinite universe theory within nature. In “Brute Neighbors,” Thoreau deftly undercuts our perceived importance of human history by narrating a “war” between some red and black ants he finds on a log. The way that he equates their plight to our historical turning points goes to show that the value of life, whether it be a red ant or Achilles, is equally meaningful. To this end, Thoreau says: “I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men. The more you think of it, the less the difference.” While not explicitly called out, Thoreau is clearly interested in the idea of natural dimensions. We ascribe importance onto the ant just and some higher being ascribes importance onto us.

There is so much more I could say about Walden, but between the good and the bad, I ultimately have more respect for Thoreau’s meditations on man and nature than I do frustration for his failure to accommodate or acknowledge man-made inequality. As such, I give Walden a VERY SOFT 4 star rating. You should read this book with an eye of suspicion. You should not forgive Thoreau for his shortcomings but should praise and admire the natural world he highlights.

[brooke echternacht · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I think this book is good to have read— Thoreau’s writing is beautiful if you slow down and allow yourself to experience it. I am not planning on moving out to a cabin by myself any time soon, and think Thoreau’s project is pretty antithetical to many parts of the Christian life— embracing community, not living for yourself, etc— but there are many elements that I think do benefit the modern reader. Ultimately, this was a book that made me think more about what I do, eat, and consume. It was perfect to read during the transition between winter and springtime!

[Cheryl Gatling]

I have always been a nature lover, and when I was a kid, it was my actual life’s goal to live in a cabin in the woods. Now, all these years later, I thought it was an amazing oversight that I had never read Walden, the number one book about someone living in a cabin in the woods. I remember that kids in my high school had read it, because I saw them carrying the book around. Whatever class that was, I had missed it.

So I began to read it. And I had a few immediate first impressions. Among my first was that this Thoreau rubbed me the wrong way. Within the first few pages he had disrespected farmers, and the wisdom is his elders. He would go on to heap scorn on newspaper, railroads, and the people of Concord who read trashy novels instead of reading Homer in the original Greek. What an insufferable snot.

The funny thing is that I agree with Thoreau on many things. Do I think that people in general are too obsessed with consumerism and the accumulation of possessions? Do I think that people are detached from nature, and work at jobs that give them no meaning or satisfaction, just to pay off their bills? I absolutely do. Just imagine if Thoreau could see the proliferation of today’s storage lockers, or the placing of ads on every available surface, or the constant stream of noise from our devices. He would be appalled, rightly. But I still found his attitude off-putting, more appropriate for a haughty teenager than a thirty-ish man, much less someone who is regarded as an important thinker.

But things did get better. Thoreau’s descriptions of nature are lyrical. He is at his best when praising the things he loves, rather than bashing the things he hates. When he talks about rising to the songs of the birds, and bathing in the still waters of the pond, watching the night stars, hearing the frogs go troonk, watching the skating water bugs, baking his hoe cakes over an open fire, and sitting for hours, never bored, as the light shifted— his delight at these things is sincere and radiant, and well, I am with him.

Over time I came not just to enjoy spending time (virtually) at Walden Pond, but also with Thoreau. He struck me as less annoying and more goofy, perhaps someone who just lacks social skills. He does have different ideas from the masses, and he does go on and on about them, but there is not any real malice in him. Thoreau would never have become an eco-terrorist like some extremists of today. The most he would do is talk your ear off, and share with you his joy at being a part of nature, and having a bird perch on his shoulder as he hoed his beans.

I came to marvel that Thoreau had been taught in my high school, because I found much of the writing challenging, with its page-long paragraphs, complex sentences, and classical and Biblical allusions. Had teenagers really been able to make heads or tails of all this? Overall, I would say that Thoreau’s writing has flashes of brilliant, succinct, quotable prose separated by pages that made me go, “Huh?”

While I certainly didn’t agree with all his rambling ideas, I thought that one of his flashes of genius was this: to question everything. He had been told, and we are also told, that we must do many things. You have to have a job. You have to go to church. You have to pay your taxes. You have to wear a certain kind of clothes. Thoreau said, “But do we now? Do we really?” Thoreau said we could try something entirely different. There are some problems of today that continue to fester partly because some novel ideas are dismissed out of hand. Maybe those new ideas wouldn’t work. But like Thoreau did, we could try. We could do an experiment.

My intention was to read Walden. This Norton Critical Edition contains other writings of Thoreau as well, and a selection of critical essays. I didn’t think I would be interested in those, but I was. There are so many things to think about in Thoreau, so many ideas. I wanted to go to my friends, and say, “Have you read Walden? What did you think?” In fact, I did this, and my friends, on the whole, had not read Walden. So the authors of the critical essays became my friends.

It was rather comforting to see that many people had complex reactions to these complex documents. Even people with degrees in literature could find their admiration for Thoreau mixed with annoyance or confusion. But there is no doubt that these are important writings. Objectively, Thoreau’s living in a cabin in the woods for two years (although close enough that he could walk to town) was an insignificant event in the history of the world. But his writing about it has influenced American culture.

Likewise, and perhaps even more so, the events of Civil Disobedience. Thoreau spent one night in jail for non-payment of taxes, because he disapproved of slavery and the Mexican war. His protest changed nothing. The government went barreling on about its business as before. But Thoreau’s words would go on to influence Martin Luther King, and Gandhi, and protestors around the world.

Thoreau’s greatest influence has probably been his exquisite nature writing, inspiring people to pay attention to and love wildness, helping to give birth to the ecological movement even before ecology was a thing.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

now I want to go to massachusetts and I will never view walks the same.

[Nikoline · Rating 1 out of 5]

I find it incredibly dificult to understand why so many people praises Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings by Henry David Thoreau because of the following: First of all, Thoreau appears to have had double standards; he praises his life in the woods of Walden like something glorifying, like it almost turned him into some kind of Messiah, yet he does not recommend this nature soft of life to others.

Furthermore he does not approve of hunting of any sorts because he believed humans should be kind to the nature, yet he spend pages describing how he spend a great deal of time fishing. The mentions above are pretty much how the entire story Walden goes, that said Thoreau has his moments of magnificent, but they are few and rare and for that I cannot give this more than a single star.

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante Denkanstöße und Ansätze, aber wenn Thoreau die Selbstreflexion besaß, um zu erkennen, dass er aus einer sehr priviligierten Position gedacht und geschrieben hat, so spiegelt sich davon kaum etwas in dem Text wider. Er scheint völlig desinteressiert daran, seine ihn persönlich betreffenden Überlegungen sinnvoll auf eine größere Verallgemeinerung oder universelle Applikation auszuweiten oder andere Perspektiven zu denselben Überlegungen zu untersuchen. Damit insgesamt etwas einseitig und nicht so tiefgehend/philosophisch angereichert, wie ich gehofft bzw. erwartet hatte.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thoreau covers a lot of topics in his book. While I could agree with many of the principles exposes, I usually disagree with Thoreau on the specifics. I liked it most when I treated it as a poetic fictionalized story of Thoreau's time at Walden. His language was certainly pleasing, even if I thought many of his ideas were wrong.

[Ashley Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

It probably helps that I read Walden around the age of 30. When I was already sufficiently downtrodden by a workforce that treats me as a machine. Thoreau's experiment in self-sufficiency is truly inspiring. Though certainly imperfect, Thoreau encourages readers to think about what is truly important in our individual lives.

[MrsB · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, Thoreau had some pretty liberal ideas for his time, and that’s a breath of fresh air. Some of what he writes is quite beautiful and poignant too, but this is hindered by the tedious and excessive amount of information he gives (going into exact costs of all materials etc). Overall, there are some great essays/points, but he makes it hard work sometimes too.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walden really isn't so bad. There's a lot to weed through, but every now and then you find a gem of an idea that's really worthwhile. Reading this in conjunction with Robert Sullivan's "The Thoreau You Don't Know" also really helps with understanding Thoreau's style and humor.

[Tobey Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to have finally read these works thoroughly, pondering them on late nights in bed. Thoreau is a kindred spirit, and even more full of himself than I, which kept me from giving 5 stars. This is a good book to revisit for our times.

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The works of the transcendentalists bring up good points, but their journals and parts of their writings bring up other facts: that they were just as insecure about their ideas as the average man-- interspersed with spurts of egocentrism.

May I never go to that egocentric place in my life. Ever.

[Lingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

《A plea for Captain John Brown》等好几篇散文表达了梭罗对墨西哥战争和奴隶制的不满。“It is the difference of constitution, of intelligence, and faith, and not streams and mountains, that make the true and impassable boundaries between individuals and between states.”

[Pgchuis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly this is a classic, so many people find value in it. I was supposed to read 'Walden' for my course, but ended up skimming it. It seems to me to be self-indulgent condescending nonsense. One extra star for the phrase '[t]he mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation'.

[Jess Eagle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Walking. I hate Economy.

[Enzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Walden.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walden is pretty amazing. I liked it more than I expected, and the next time I visit the pond itself I'll have a new appreciation for it.

[Frances · Rating 1 out of 5]

ENDELIG!!!!!!!!!!! endelig er jeg færdig med den (minus side 189-213, som jeg ikke får læst til i morgen i hvert fald..)

jeg håber aldrig jeg skal læse den igen!

[Tom]

my book actaully entitled walden and civil disobedience

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only read Walden so far. Except the descriptions of the ice....I loved it! Hope the kiddies enjoy it this summer, too!