The philosophical, ethical and theological groundings of tourism – an exploratory inquiry

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis inquiry poses the question whether and in what manner has the field of tourism achieved groundings in three of the principal domains of contemporary Western culture: philosophy, ethics and theology. The inquire found that (1) Some philosophical concepts have entered the language of tourism research, while a promising nexus emerged between existential phenomenology in philosophy and the exploration of existential authenticity in tourism. (2) The ethical aspects of the tourism industry have recently gained increasing attention, but the exploration of more profound ethical problems inherent in contemporary tourism as a social phenomenon is still rarely undertaken. Tourism has not been addressed by the theologies of most of the established world religions; but the inquiry reveals elements of contrasting incipient theologies inherent in some novel touristic manifestations, such as spiritual tourism and dark tourism. The inquiry concludes that the field of tourism has achieved some groundings in the domain of ethics, but its groundings in major philosophical streams are of limited scope, while those in the theologies of major world religions (safe for Islam) are virtually non-existent. The absence of adequate forums to discuss and elucidate these topics hinders progress in their investigation.