Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking

[billmclaughlin]

Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking

This is not a camino book. Neither is it a pilgrim book. Yet it may prove of interest to some on this forum.

The author considers walking from many points of view, its styles from strolling to trekking, the experience of certain literary figures from Nietzsche to Thoreau to Ghandi. Gros likes the sound of his own voice and can bloviate at times, but there were also insights to be gained from his detailed examination of physical and psychological experience. I particularly enjoyed his brief topical discussions of: gravity, public gardens, the urban flaneur, solitudes, etc. I expect some readers will also enjoy these meditations and their occasional insights.

 

[mspath]

Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking

This is not a camino book. Neither is it a pilgrim book. Yet it may prove of interest to some on this forum....

Frédéric Gros is a professor of philosophy in Paris. A Philosophy of Walking was originally published in French as Marcher, une philosophie, Carnet Nord, 2009.

One of his more pertinent themes in either language can be summarized as "Walking allows us to rediscover a certain number of simple joys. One finds again the pleasure of eating, drinking, resting and sleeping. By means of these rare pleasures and basic joys we can return to a simpler authenticity."

 

[jayree]

Frédéric Gros's book, A Philosophy of Walking, is reviewed by Adam Gopnik in the current issue of The New Yorker, perhaps not favorably. At any rate I love this quote from the review ...

Contemplative walking is Gros’s favored kind: the walking of medieval pilgrims, of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Henry David Thoreau, of Kant’s daily life. It is the Western equivalent of what Asians accomplish by sitting. Walking is the Western form of meditation: “You’re doing nothing when you walk, nothing but walking. But having nothing to do but walk makes it possible to recover the pure sensation of being, to rediscover the simple joy of existing, the joy that permeates the whole of childhood.”

The review which also discusses Matthew Algeo’s “Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America’s Favorite Spectator Sport,” a fascinating history of walking in America, is at

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/heavens-gaits