Nadine asked:

I am a student of Landscape Architecture, currently considering 'What is it that makes a human move
through the landscape or an environment and what do you perceive the changes in these reasons to
be through time?'

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The first thing we need to get clear about is in what sense what you have asked could be considered
a philosophical question.

One can ask what enableshuman beings to move through the landscape or one can ask what
motivateshuman beings to move through the landscape. No doubt there are interesting things to say
about the change in modes of transport over time, as there are changes in the reasons why people
travel rather than choosing to stay put. But somehow, I don't think that either of those questions is the
question you are asking.

In order for there to be such a thing as moving through an environment or a landscape, there has to
be such a thing as beingin an environment or a landscape. The philosophical point to make here is
that human beings, persons, are found in, or find themselves to be in an environment or a landscape
in a fundamentally different way from the way that artefacts or natural objects are found there.

The relation between a human being or a boulder or a tree to a landscape is, on the most abstract
level, that of 'figure and ground', to use the language of Gestalt psychology. The landscape is static,
or relatively static, whereas it is the object that moves. The tree is blown down by the wind, the
boulder falls down the mountain in an avalanche.

The difference is that human beings are not merely placed in the landscape in an objective sense, but
in addition subjectively place themselves in relation to that landscape. This transforms the static array
of objects in various relations into a dynamic web of tools to be taken up and used, obstacles to be
overcome. A place to live, that makes life possible. A place that we find and also create, that gives us
a reason for getting from A to B, which may not necessarily be simply that we find ourselves at A and
want to be at B. (It is a fact to wonder at, that travel is enjoyed for its own sake.)

I can see endless lines of investigation to pursue from this point. What I have said may be completely
irrelevant to your interests, or not. I just don't know. I would be interested to hear what you make of
the question!

Geoffrey Klempner