We don't often think of work when we think of Henry David Thoreau. We think of Thoreau living with his family, or loafing around at a cabin at Walden, and mostly spending his days walking and enjoying nature. We know he did some writing, sure, but often think of him as being largely the abstract thinker type.
But Thoreau was a man of much practical skill, who lived a life of both thought and action. He did lots of kinds of work — from carpentry to surveying to helping raise Ralph Waldo Emerson's kids — and thought a lot about the nature of work, both the paid variety and the kind that's necessary for simply sustaining day-to-day life. Today on the show, John Kaag, a professor of philosophy and the co-author of Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living, shares some of Thoreau's insights on work with us. We discuss what Thoreau can teach us about the value of resignation, the importance of continuing to work with your hands to maintain what Thoreau called your "vital heat," what makes for meaningful work, and the trap of working in bad faith. We end our conversation with a call to consider what you're really being paid for in your job and the true cost of the things you buy.
Resources Related to the Podcast#649: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Outsourced Expertise
#648: Lessons in Building Rapport from Experts in Terrorist Interrogation
#647: What Happened When Two Friends Left Their Jobs to Build a Cabin Together
#646: How to Win at Losing
#645: The Forgotten Story of the Lumberjack Commandos of WWII
#644: How to Develop Greater Self-Awareness
#643: Life Lessons From Dead Philosophers
#642: Finding Money and Meaning in the Blue Collar Trades
#450: How to Make Time For What Really Matters Every Day [RE-BROADCAST]
#641: How Eisenhower Led — A Conversation with Ike's Granddaughter
#640: Weird and Wonderful Ways to Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
#639: Why You Should Learn the Lost Art of Rhetoric
#638: How Changing Your Breathing Can Change Your Life
#637: What Poker Can Teach You About Luck, Skill, and Mastering Yourself
#636: Why You Overeat and What to Do About It
#635: The Existentialist's Survival Guide
#634: How to Design Conversations That Matter
#633: The World and Vision of Lakota Medicine Man Black Elk
#632: How the Internet Makes Our Minds Shallow
#631: How to Prevent and Survive a Home Invasion
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul
Today, Explained
Freakonomics Radio
Morning Wire