Thoreau's Critique of Democracy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6397649 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leigh Kathryn Jenco (0000-0001-7249-7843, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 355-381 |
| Publication date | 2003-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034670500038286 |
| OpenAlex | W2170286175 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 16 |
Most commentators see Henry David Thoreau's political essays as an endorsement of liberal democracy, but this essay holds that Thoreau's critique of majoritarianism and his model of civil disobedience may intend something much more radical: when his criticisms of representative democracy are articulated in more formal terms of political and moral obligation, it becomes clear that the theory and practice of democracy fundamentally conflict with Thoreau's conviction in moral autonomy and conscientious action. His critical examination of the way in which a democratic state threatens the commitments that facilitate and give meaning to the practice of morality intends to reorient the focus of politics, away from institutions and toward the people such institutions were ostensibly in place to serve. His critique stands as a warning that becoming complacent about democracy will inhibit the search for better (perhaps more liberal) ways to organize political life
Autonomy · Civil disobedience · Conviction · Democracy · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Law and economics · Liberal democracy · Morality · Obligation · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Philosophy · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education · Thoreau and American Literature · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy
Moral Duties, Institutions, and Natural Facts
Moral Principles and Political Obligations
Radical Abolitionism
Political Action
‘Ought’ and Institutional Obligation
In Defense of Anarchism
The Transcendentalists
Henry David Thoreau, the State of Nature, and the Redemption of Liberalism
Thoreau's Militant Conscience
Thoreau on Democratic Cultivation
Thoreau's Alternative Economics
Obligation and Consent-I
| Citations per year | 0.24 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2005 - 2021 (17) |
| Highly cited | No |