The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece where discussions were held as one walked about. Unlike Plato (428/7–348/7 BC), Aristotle (384–322 BC) was not a citizen of Athens and so could not own property; he and his colleagues therefore used the grounds of the Lyceum as a gathering place, just as it had been used by earlier philosophers such as Socrates.
In England, Thomas Hobbes even had a walking stick with an inkhorn built into it so that he could jot down his thoughts as he walked. Walking sticks were until recently often beautiful objects, handsomely crafted, nothing like modern day hiking staffs, used by badly clad urbanites to simulate rurality in groups and clutter up what passes for the natural world at the weekend.
Bertrand Russell said of Wittgenstein that he would come to Russell's rooms at midnight and pace around for hours. Wittgenstein had a series of insights about language and thought that are difficult even to put into words they are so conceptual. Language is central to reasoning and it has been shown that each language lends itself to a particular form of thought. To be able to transcend the limits of one's own vocabulary and typical linguistic structures and formulate thoughts that have a universal significance requires stepping outside oneself and observing one's thought processes.
But now, with CV-19, we have our walking drastically limited. In Spain, no walking is allowed at all unless there is an immediate purpose to it, such as going to the local supermarket or taking the dog out, and both have to be frequently justified to the police. In England, you may walk so long as it is not far from your home and a maximum of an hour's walking for exercise is allowed per day. No mindless dawdling allowed.
Walking is the most natural form of transport, requiring no special kit or expenditure except for some decent shoes. The human body is perfectly suited to it and thrives through it. The body and brain is oxygenated and it is good for our lungs. If you spend enough time you can go far and see the world first hand as it is, on a scale that is relevant to humankind.
At the moment, we are not allowed to share time or space with people that are not immediate family. Yet those very conversations with people we are less familiar with, and outside set social contexts, are those that so often lead one to unexpected thoughts at the most unexpected times. Our conversations online, often tapped out on a mobile phone, are a poor substitute for the sort of deep thought and inspiration that can pop up while striding or ambling along, conversing with strangers or lesser acquaintances.
Clearly you can think without moving around - Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist and astrophysicist was an active man in his youth but almost totally immobile in his later years. But in general being crammed into the typical house or flat is not conducive to original thought, less so with the level of distraction, especially visual distraction, we all have, with our mobiles, tablets, emails, Netflix, memes, video messages...
Our current physical immobilization, with our facial expressions covered up by a mask, our capacity to touch also covered up by latex gloves, is without a doubt not the whole story of what is going on. Our future liberties, for a start, are being drastically curtailed under law for the foreseeable future.
Equally worryingly, maybe our intellectual possibilities are also being curtailed.
The germ of this idea is from the writings of Rebecca Solnit (writer and journalist).
