Philosophical Texts on Travels: Chronicles and Testimonies of Travellers

Abstract

The present essay review explores the role played by travels to form cultures as well as the use of travel writing in the social science. Over centuries, intellectuals rested their reflections on the testimonies of travels as they have been formulated by other travelers. Whether medieval or pre-industrial travel experiences were used to delineate the epistemology of the whole social sciences in Europe, the viewpoint of tourist is neglected as naïve or subject to the lack of objectivity. Why travels now are not taken into consideration for the epistemologists?. Are modern tourists more naïve or enrooted in a great variety of prejudices? Are ancient travellers very different to tourists?