Pursuing Harmony With Nature: On The Environmental Virtue Ethics Of Henry David Thoreau's Walden

Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862),a key figure of ecological literature,has long been considered as a model for environmentalism.Recent years have witnessed increasing interests in Thoreau study at home and abroad.The "Beyond Thoreau: Literature's Response to Nature" International Conference which was concluded in Tsinghua University last October is an example.However,a comparison of the Chinese and Western eco-study of Thoreau still shows a gap we face.The West has started the environmental ethics study since the 1980s.However,study from this perspective can hardly be found at home.Out of this concern,this thesis attempts to explore the environmental virtue ethics of Walden,the masterpiece of Thoreau.As a branch of philosophy,ethics studies the norms for proper conduct and good living.It's usually about interpersonal relationships.Different from consequentialism ethics and deontology ethics which focus on the norms for proper behavior,virtue ethics emphasizes the moral character of the individual and the flourishing of human beings."Environmental virtue ethics" is a new dimension of virtue ethics.It gives systematic and comprehensive definition and interpretation on what an ethical man-nature relationship is and how to keep it,with focus more on what dispositions or attitudes we ought and ought not to have regarding the environment than on what we ought and ought not to do to the environment.The ideal for an environment virtue ethicist is to achieve man-nature excellence.When people witness environmental destruction,they would sometimes wonder:"what's wrong with the sort of person who would do that?" This is because some immoral behaviors against the environment are not so serious as to reach a legal level.Generally speaking,legislature could only regulate behavior,not character,and policy can only measure actions,not attitude.It's virtue ethics that's regulating the operation of the entire society in the most fundamental way."Introduction" introduces the Thoreau study background at home and abroad as well as the purpose of this thesis.Investigations show that,although Walden is featured with its beautiful language,the difficulty in its language creates some hindrance to understand it comprehensively.The rise of Thoreau's popularity nowadays is closely related to people's gradual understanding of him and his works. It's also the result of a series of successful publishing ventures.Walden proceeds with a directional shift of its theme from focusing on "men in the society" with criticism on commercialism and discussion on how to lead a good life in the society in the first one third of the text to focusing on "man's joyful life in the woods" in the other two thirds of the text.As a result,domestic eco-critical researches of Walden always only focus on the analysis of the latter two thirds,ignoring the vital link between the beginning one third and the other two thirds of the text.I believe that the first one third of the text is about human excellence and the other two thirds is about environmental excellence. Therefore,Walden as a whole exemplifies the integrity of man-nature excellence—a model for a living with environmental virtue ethics.As environmental virtue ethics is an emerging,cross-disciplinary applied ethics, and in order to make this thesis a more solid,valid and realistic one,"Chapter 1 A Review of Environmental Virtue Ethics" gives a brief theoretical introduction to environmental virtue ethics as well as the physical and cultural origins for its development.I believe that the modern environmental crisis and the American nature ideology provide fertile soil for the development of environmental virtue ethics. However,as science and technology are sometimes biased and not powerful enough to solve the crisis,environmental virtue ethics is a more fundamental and effective approach that we shall apply to improve the environmental problems and maintain the sustainability of our environment..As Walden is autobiographical,"Chapter 2 Genesis of Thoreau's Environmental Virtue Ethics" explores the origins for the development of Thoreau's ecophilosophy.Firstly,the 19^th century American industrialization and the environmental problems urged Thoreau to ponder on the question of "how can one lead life that is good for both man and nature?" Secondly,Thoreau was deeply influenced by the ancient Greek,Asian and Amerindian philosophy which call for the pursuit of man-nature harmony.The first two groups of philosophy,in particular, advocate the pursuit of inward spiritual excellence and take "cultivating one's moral character and temperament" as an ethical issue.These philosophies inspired Thoreau to understand and appreciate the natural world and explore the ways to become a virtuous person. "Chapter 3 Character Traits of Thoreau as an Ecologically Virtuous Person" explores the character traits of Thoreau that are beneficial to man-nature excellence.Rigid economy,simplicity and freedom are among the first group of his character traits.They are about voluntarily putting economic pursuit in its subordinate proper position,the practice of which enables people to pursue inward excellence freely and let other non-human creatures simply live.Secondly,Thoreau also exhibits the character trait of ecological sensibility.Thoreau appreciates the nonanthropocentric intrinsic value of nature,never deliberately changes and exploits nature for unnecessary human use,and enjoys harmonious life in nature spiritually and aesthetically.Based on the discussion in Chapter 3,"Chapter 4 Environmental Ethics of Walden:Integrity of Man-nature Excellence" takes a step further to explore how Thoreau maintains his relationship with nature in specific livelihood-making activities and how he realizes the man-nature excellence as an integrity.Fishing,hunting and farming are among the very few activities that Thoreau does to nature,through which conflicts between human beings' needs and nature's interests may arise.Thus,it makes sense to analyze how Thoreau thinks and acts in these aspects.In hunting,fishing and farming,Thoreau advocates the environmental ethics of vegetarianism and environmental preservation.Thoreau's call for these ethics manifests his idea that human excellence intertwines with nature excellence.An analysis of Thoreau's advocacy of environmental ethics shows that virtue plays an important role in his living in harmony with nature;on the other and,having its intrinsic value,nature excellence is fundamental to human flourishing."Conclusion" summarizes the thesis,points out challenges in the study of Thoreau's environmental virtue ethics,and puts forwards the idea of advocating the cultivation of environmental virtue ethics.Currently,it may be difficult to require every modern citizen to practise Thoreau's environmental virtue ethics in order to solve the modern environmental crisis.But through gradual efforts,maybe our future generations will do better than the current generation.Generally,we should at least try to publicize the following Thoreau's ideas:1) To put economic pursuit in its appropriate position,subordinating it to the pursuit of internal excellence.This may be accomplished by practising rigid economy and the doctrine of simplicity with supports from the governmental sectors,writers,teachers,news media and the like;2) To pursue the ancient virtues,including intellectual,physical,aesthetic and spiritual excellence.These virtues are not only beneficial to our personal flourishing,but also lead to nature excellence;3) To cultivate our ecological sensibility.Always enjoy life close to nature,appreciate the beauty and sacredness of nature,and get to see the intrinsic value of nature rather than the anthropocentric value of it.4) To practise vegetarianism and environmental preservation.As nature is silent and could not sue man's destruction of environment to court,an environmentally virtuous ethical person should take himself or herself as a moral protector of nature.