We people love to travel, today more than ever. Philosopher prof. Ruud Welten discusses our desire – or should we say obsession? – to explore the most exotic corners of the world.
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Why do we always want to go places? Is it to broaden our minds, or to escape our mundane daily lives? Traveling is pretty much the norm these days: it is important for us to experience new cultures and discover unforgettable places. Not like a mere tourist who goes on vacation, but like a proper traveler, mingling with the locals and sharing their experiences online.
According to philosopher Ruud Welten however, there is no such distinction between a tourist and a traveler. They both suffer from ‘travel neurosis’; a result of our increasingly individualistic society that pressures us all to be unique. In this lecture Ruud Welten philosophically dissects the desires and motivations of the modern tourist.
Prof. dr. Ruud Welten is a Thomas More professor at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, associate professor of Philosophy at Tilburg University, and lector Ethics & Global Citizenship at Saxion University of Applied Sciences. He has written extensively about traveling and tourism, for example in his key publication Het Ware Leven is Elders – Filosofie van het Toerisme (True Life is Elsewhere – Philosophy of Tourism).