Thoreausian Economics
Writing over one hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau revealed the economic and political structure of the nineteenth century in his stylized analysis of the "Economy", the longest portion of his famous book, Walden. His analysis far surpassed the vision of classical economics as he attempted and succeeded, at least in many people's views, of separating the way the world is and the way it should be. His writing escaped the conventions of "pure economics" but his philosophies were nevertheless expressed in quite economic terms. The language used is more elegant and graceful than what would be found in an economics textbook, however Thoreau does manage to describe many of the technical foundations of an economic society. These include how demand and supply are generated, various factors of production, employment, and even poverty and inequality. "Economy" on the surface is more of a philosophy than a theory however it has within its bounds a number of interesting thoughts and a very consistent reasoning that make one question society's acceptance of Classical Economics. "Economy" exposed a significant part of Thoreau's philosophy on life including his first proposition that man's economic life shou
As a result, in both the north and south, the master-slave relationship was contributing to the overall degradation of man. Simultaneously, it created a pseudo-consciousness that made men live "a mean and sneaking life. The problem was that the Irishman was a worker and not a philosopher - he could not become as unattached as Thoreau had become from society because he had commitments and obligations to his family. In the very suitable chapter entitled "House-Warming" Thoreau discusses how his days turned to seeking his fourth necessity by scouring the woods for dry wood to burn: "My employment out of doors now was to collect the deadwood in the forest. This is why Thoreau's principles were individualistic. This he justified by returning it "sharper than he had received it" (Thoreau, 31) and by the fact that it is "difficult to begin without borrowing. It is therefore not surprising that Thoreau was discussing such issues as "self-sufficiency" as man was becoming more dependent on society and less on himself following the 19th Century's heavy industrialization. Thoreausian Economics have had a predictive power that has forecast many of the social problems occurring today. " (Thoreau, 30) They had devised "an improved means to an unimproved end. As Thoreau states, "I hardly need refer now to the laborers in our Southern States who produce the staple exports of this country, and are themselves a staple production of the South. The American man was ensnared by his own supply and demand curves and consequently, the society had transformed into a melting pot of buyers and sellers. As Thoreau notes of the farmers and their land, "The farmer is endeavoring to solve the problem of a livelihood by a formula more complicated than the problem itself.
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