Thoreau's Importance for Philosophy

14. Walden Revisited: An Interview with Stanley Cavell

The most widely respected contemporary American thinker who has argued for Thoreau's philosophical significance is Stanley Cavell, whose book The Senses of Walden is now over forty years old. In this interview, Cavell revisits the question of why Thoreau ought to be taken seriously as a major American philosopher, and reflects on some of the lingering resistance to this idea within the academy, in light of the challenges posed by Thoreau's writings.