Sara Wheeler
Journey’s End?
The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad
By Emily Thomas
Oxford University Press 245pp £14.99 order from our bookshop
It is timely, in these days of Extinction Rebellion and anti-aviation protests, to examine the philosophy of travel. Why do we go, what do we get out of it, and is the very act of boarding a plane nefarious? As Emily Thomas asks in this searching book, ‘Is it ethical to visit the Great Barrier Reef if its corals are withering?’
An academic at Durham University, Thomas explores the places where philosophy and travel intersect. She specialises in the history of philosophy and has written on 17th-century theories of time. ‘Philosophers Abroad’, which is the subtitle of this slim-ish volume, is a nebulous enough phrase, but the author makes it her own.
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