Why do philosophers care about travel? -- What are maps? Brian Harley on cartographic deception -- Francis Bacon on the philosophy of science and frozen chicken -- Innate ideas in Descartes, Locke, and Cannibals -- Why did tourism start? sex, education , and the grand tour -- Travel writing, thought experiments, and Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World -- Mountain travel and Henry More's philosophy of space -- Edmund Burke and subline tourism -- Wilderness philosophy, Henry Thoreau, and cabin porn -- Is travel a male concept? -- The ethics of doom tourism -- Will space travel show the earth is insignificant?

How can we think more deeply about travel? This was the question that inspired Emily Thomas's journey into the philosophy of travel. Part philosophical ramble, part travelogue, The Meaning of Travel begins in the Age of Discovery, when philosophers first started taking travel seriously. It meanders forward to consider Montaigne on otherness, John Locke on cannibals, and Henry Thoreau on wilderness. On our travels with Thomas, we discover the dark side of maps, how the philosophy of space fuelled mountain tourism, and why you should wash underwear in woodland cabins... We also confront profound issues, such as the ethics of 'doom tourism' (travel to 'doomed' glaciers and coral reefs), and the effect of space travel on human significance in a leviathan universe