Begin your journey at Shakespeare & Company, before exploring the Latin Quarter and the intellectual traditions that have shaped Paris. At the Left Bank, discover the world of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, exploring the central ideas of existentialism, including freedom, responsibility, choice, and the meaning of human existence. This is the Paris of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Café de Flore, and Shakespeare and Co, where philosophers, writers, and artists gathered to debate ideas that would influence twentieth-century thought.
From there, make your way towards Notre-Dame, where we turn to René Descartes and his revolutionary ideas about rationality, dualism, consciousness, and the existence of God. Explore how Descartes’ philosophy helped establish rationalism as a major tradition in European thought and why his questions about the relationship between mind and body remain influential today.
Along the way, discover the dramatic history of Notre-Dame, Île de la Cité, and the revolutionary events that transformed the heart of Paris. These historic streets and landmarks provide the setting for understanding how Paris evolved from a medieval centre of learning into one of the world's great centres of intellectual and political life.
Finally, trace the intellectual forces behind the French Revolution and the Enlightenment, exploring the political philosophy of Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the Marquis de Condorcet, and how their ideas about reason, liberty, equality, and government helped reshape France and the modern world. From Enlightenment philosophy to French political thought and existentialism, this walking tour connects the people, ideas, and places that made Paris a defining city in the history of Western philosophy.
