Study On Chinese Classical Philosophies In Thoreau’s Walden

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American author, philosopher, transcendentalist, and pioneer of modern environmentalism of19th century. His representative work Walden is a wealth of thoughts, in which Thoreau’s philosophy has attracted more and more attention. Walden relates to the Occidental classical ideas, such as that of Kant and Plato’s subjective idealism, as well as the Oriental philosophies, such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Thoreau cites ten quotations from Confucian Four Books, which undoubtedly reflects his admiration for Confucianism. Furthermore, though Thoreau never mentions Taoism in this book or other works, a reading of Walden can reveals an obvious analogy between the insights of Walden and Chinese Taoism. By exploring the sources of Thoreau’s philosophical ideas in Walden,, this thesis wholly analyzes Chinese classical philosophies in Walden, and points out its modern significance and value.