The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad

by Emily Thomas

***🏆 A Five Books Book of the Year ***

Recommendations from our site

“She’s taken a series of topics from the history of travel, from the 17th century onwards, and showed why this is a really interesting and important area for philosophers to consider…Emily combines a personal voice with highly informative, well-researched glimpses of particular philosophical travellers. And she’s pulled off a really good book that is directed at the general public. It’s accessible and it’s entertaining, but also opens up interesting philosophical ideas. It’s very original.” Read more...

The Best Philosophy Books of 2020

Nigel Warburton, Philosopher

“Emily Thomas’s original and fun book The Meaning of Travel is my top pick in a year when travel is going to be difficult. One of the joys of the book is she’s found so many great quotations from philosophers on the topic.” Read more...

Summer Reading: Philosophy Books

Nigel Warburton, Philosopher

The book, according to the author

This topic brings two things I really love together. I’ve spent years of my life backpacking and I’ve always been a bit obsessed with travel. Having spent my entire adult life as a professional philosopher, I was suddenly gripped with the obsessional idea of writing something about philosophy and travel.

When I started, I wasn’t sure if I would find anything. It’s not a topic that’s talked about anywhere. I thought it was possible I would begin research and find that philosophers are just not interested in travel and that philosophy and travel have never interacted. Yet to my delight I found they’ve interacted a lot and there’s plenty to look at.

… Anything that gives us new perspectives is good. Philosophy and travel can both aim to strike out into the unknown. Travellers do that when they seek to explore outer space or unexplored caves below the Earth or parts of the ocean. Philosophers also try to do that.

Emily Thomas, in her interview on Five Books