En savoir plus
"I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward." H.D Thoreau
In this famous text, Henry David Thoreau does not define himself as an anarchist. Thus, he writes, "unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government". But at the same time, Thoreau is often cited as being an anarchist. Indeed, it must be said that there are many points in common between Thoreau's thought and that of Malatesta, an intellectual figure of the libertarian movement. We find, for example, the rejection of the tyranny of the majority, the duty to resist unjust laws, and the denunciation of state violence.
Contents :
H.D Thoreau : On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
E. Malatesta : Anarchy
A propos de l'auteur
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862) was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and Yankee attention to practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.
He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
