"The Tonic of Wildness" : Thoreau's Critique of Industrial Capitalism

Abstract

This thesis is a critical intervention in contemporary Thoreau scholarship. It argues against Ashton Nichols's application of his concept of "urbanature" to the writings and philosophy of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau's concept of "wildness" is not compatible with "urbanature;" indeed, "wildness offers solutions to ecological problems that "urbanature" fails to provide. It critiques the ideologies that undergirded industrial capitalism and other exploitive systems. Given that these systems cause or contribute to pressing ecological problems, as well as social, this thesis calls for a return to Thoreau's transformative understanding of "wildness" to address them.