A Walk to the Market: Reflections on Philosophy and Everyday Life

This assignment documents a student's reflective journey to the Granville Marketplace in Vancouver, detailing their sensory experiences and personal connections to the environment. The student describes their routine of visiting the market, highlighting the sights, smells, and feelings evoked by the walk and the market itself. The paper integrates philosophical concepts, referencing Immanuel Kant's ideas on morality and reason, as well as Alain Badiou's concept of 'void'. The student connects these philosophical ideas to their personal experiences and observations, such as encountering dogs and a photo-walk group, and reflects on the importance of the journey and contemplation in daily life. The assignment includes a list of references to academic sources that support the student's reflections on the walk and related philosophical concepts.

Running Head: A WALK TO THE MARKET
A Walk to the Market
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1A WALK TO THE MARKET
The Walk to the Granville Marketplace in Vancouver
The Granville marketplace is a farmer’s marketplace in the city of Vancouver. This place
has been my go to destination since the time I started living in Vancouver for work. Every Friday
I make it point to go the market and stock up my groceries. This has been by routine for the past
four months. The city was new to me but this place made me feel like home because a similar
market was where my mother and I used to go in for our weekly groceries.
When I walking towards the marketplace I saw a number of huskies being taken by a
middle aged couple, these dogs started sniffing me and I cuddled them. I am dog person myself,
back home I had 4 dogs but coming to Vancouver for work meant that I had to live alone and
living alone meant that having a dog is luxury that I could not afford. Seeing the dog, it
immediately took me back to my growing up days, I wanted to pick up my phone and call my
mother but then I went back on my way. The weather was breezy; I loved the cold breeze
brushing against my hair makes me like I am living in a mountain with a lake beside my room. I
have always loved the breeze that comes from the water bodies. The walk is quite long and I like

2A WALK TO THE MARKET
walking this distance because I get to see new things almost every time I walk to the market.
After few minutes I noticed a gathering of few people, I went to check whether there is
something wrong, then I figured out there is a group of people who are out for a photo-walk.
This means that they will walk along a path and while they are walking they talk pictures of the
things that they find interesting. When I spotted them, they huddled up to check where to go
next. When I spotted them I was 10 minutes away from my destination.
The interesting thing about walking is that it gives us time to contemplate about our life
(Mitchell, Moletsane & De Lange 2015). The purpose behind our actions and the reasons why
we are doing the work that we have decided to do for the rest of our life. The destination
becomes less important while we are walking, what becomes important is the journey (Cutcher,
Rousell & Cutter-Mac kenzie, 2015). All of our senses feel more alive while we are. For me, it
only energizes my body but also my mind (Triggs, Irwin & Leggo, 2014). When I reached the
market, I looked around the fresh vegetables and fruits. The smell reminds me of my house
garden, I use to do a lot of gardening, and multiple fruits grew into my garden. Apples, mangoes,
guavas, pumpkin, I had all of these fruits planted in my garden. I love fresh fruits and the only
reason I take the walk to the farthest market. The walk makes me re-energized and the smell of
the fruits makes me want to come back to this place all over again (Zeki & Ishizu, 2013).

3A WALK TO THE MARKET
Philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that reason is the source morality (Kant, 2013). He
believed that rational human beings doing good things will make the universe work properly.
That is what I believe in, doing something that is according to me the best course of action and
contemplating the actions that I am performing. I believe in simple and uncomplicated life.
Doing well in my own capacity is what I aim at doing. Alain Badiou is a German philosopher,
who used the term ‘void’, to describe non-being (Riera, 2015). I think this void is what I
experience in my walk. The feeling to not being confined to a space and this is the reason I take
my walk every week.
When I finally reach my most favorite section which is the fruit section, I picked up
tomatoes, apples, oranges, apricot, peaches, grapes and guavas. I satisfy myself with these fruits
and then I move on to the vegetables section and buy a ton of fresh vegetables like carrots,
beetroots, turnips, potatoes, bell-pepper and a lot of fresh green herbs. These are the things I use
in my daily cooking. I am vegan so fruits and vegetables are the most important thing for me.
The walk gives me energy and this the reason I am always being able to keep my mind fresh and
lets me work through the entire week without making me feel tired.

4A WALK TO THE MARKET
References
Cutcher, A., Rousell, D., & Cutter-Mac kenzie, A. (2015). Findings, windings and entwinings:
Cartographies of collaborative walking and encounter (11th ed.). Australia: International
Journal of Education through Art.
Kant, I. (2013). Immanuel Kant's critique of pure reason. Read Books Ltd.
Mitchell, C., Moletsane, R., & De Lange, N. (2015). Seeing how it works: A visual essay about
critical and transformative research in education. Perspectives in Education, 33(4), 151-
176.
Riera, G. (Ed.). (2015). Alain Badiou: Philosophy and its conditions. SUNY Press.
Triggs, V., Irwin, R., & Leggo, C. (2014). Walking art: Sustaining ourselves as arts educators
(3rd ed.). Australia: Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art.
Zeki, S., & Ishizu, T. (2013). The “Visual Shock” of Francis Bacon: an essay in neuroesthetics.
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 7, 850.