“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it”: The Concept of Economy (of Nature) in Thoreau’s Walden or Life in the Woods

Abstract

The present article investigates the notion of economy (of nature) in Thoreau’s Walden or Life in the Woods (1854); it introduces the context of coining the concept of economy of nature, presents the challenges of exploring nature in Romantic thought, and finally deals with Thoreau’s concept of “economy” as discussed in the first chapter of his opus magnum. Despite its historical grounding in the Romantic tradition and in the tradition of American Transcendentalism, Thoreau’s idea of “economy” represents a remarkably fresh version of a sustainable lifestyle, combining scientific observation with profound philosophical and poetic insights.