Most people use roads on a daily basis. Yet roads, or paths, have received little attention in philosophy; at most, they are discussed in the metaphorical sense of a 'life path' or the 'path to knowledge'. Dirk-Jan Laan (Erasmus School of Philosophy) will defend his dissertation on 7 November: 'How to get where we are: a genealogy of the road'. In his research, he explored how roads shape both our world and our view of the world.
As a philosopher, why do you find roads so interesting?
'Everyone interacts with roads nearly every day. It’s so obvious, we don’t even think about it anymore. But however you look at it, from the moment you step out of your door to when you get home, you are on a road, or a path of some kind. But although everyone is familiar with the phenomenon, hardly any philosophical literature has been written about it. I felt it was important to explore the physical artefact of the road. Because it’s not only a means of getting from A to B, it’s also an element that structures how we experience the world and move through it.'
So how do roads affect us?
'Virtually every experience we have in the world starts with stepping onto a road. You can think of it as the space in which the world unfolds before us. The road forms our entrance to the world, but that road is not simply there. There is a power relationship in roads and how we use them. Who built that road? And who decides what rules apply there? From childhood we are taught all kinds of behaviours, rules and self-evident truths about the road. These shape how we move along the road, and therefore how the world appears to us. But where do these self-evident truths and these rules come from? That is not often examined.'
You carried out historical research for your thesis. What did you find out?
'Roads started from communities that maintained them collectively. But the 18th century brought a change: the creation of toll roads or Turnpike Trusts. One interesting case I came across was a conflict in 1735. A barrier was erected and a toll was levied. The village revolted, which led to a battle of sorts, in which people were killed. In the archives, I read how large landowners dismissed this resistance as the resistance of "ignorant farmers" who did not understand that the toll would bring "improvement".'
What did you find out?
'Charging tolls changed something fundamental: roads increasingly became something controlled from above. This greatly affected the connections people felt with their environment. These days, we think it’s normal for the government to decide where roads go, but it was different for a very long time. I also liked the story of the Devil’s Dyke, a huge dyke 20 metres high that people could only cross through a toll gate. But the area around it was common land, where everyone had free passage. So what did people do? They went over the dyke, with their goats and cows and all, bypassing the toll gate. They were described as "dirty toll dodgers" and stiff penalties were handed out. In my thesis, I call it parallelisation, when different paths – and ways of shaping the world – begin to coexist.'
So, you looked at the English context. What makes English archives interesting?
'I was looking for a country that has remained fairly stable politically since the 17th century. England is also a bit more universal in terms of landscape than the Netherlands, which is marshy and has hardly any natural stone. Plus I can read English much better than old German or old French, so that definitely played a part too.'
In your view, is there anything wrong with our road network?
'I’m not an urban planner, so I’m not going to comment on how roads should be constructed. These days, when we talk about roads, it’s often about road fatalities or traffic jams, and therefore also about widening roads and lowering speed limits. These are superficial adjustments. My plea is really to think about roads as a concept, the origin of roads, and how the facts we currently consider self-evident stem from roads. We need to move away from the idea that a road is just a functional obstacle. With my thesis, I hope to get people to think about roads in a different way.'
Can you still walk down the street normally, after spending so much time thinking about this subject?
'I do think I look at roads differently than most people. I’m aware that that space has been made for me and I cannot simply deviate from it. As a child, it’s drummed into you that you mustn’t meander and you must watch out for cars. It’s etched into your brain. Try driving on the left for a while when the road is empty at night. It’s really quite a disturbing experience.'
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Dirk-Jan Laan enjoys taking long trips, particularly to go hiking. During his PhD research, he hitchhiked to Hong Kong with Dennis Prooi. Together, they wrote a book about their journey: "A philosophy for being on the move".
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