Agnes Callard, a University of Chicago philosopher, infuriated various portions of the internet in June with an essay making the case against travel. Though really it was the case against tourism, since Callard exempted many forms of travel — for work or study, for personal or political reasons or charitable service — from her critique. The traveler departs confident that she will come back with the same basic interests, political beliefs and living arrangements. So I refrained from any comment on her thesis, assuming — like every other self-deluded tourist — that I would return more enlightened than before. But casting my mind back to that distant prior self, I dimly remember having two reactions to Callard’s essay.

---

Persons: Agnes Callard, Walker Percy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Chesterton, Callard, Mona Lisa, ’, Percy Organizations: University of Chicago, Scottish Locations: G.K, France, Britain, Netherlands