View source for Philosophy:Solvitur ambulando

{{short description|Solvitur ambulando "it is solved by walking"}}
{{italic title}}
'''''Solvitur ambulando''''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɒ|l|v|ɪ|t|ər|_|ˌ|æ|m|b|j|ʊ|ˈ|l|æ|n|d|oʊ}}<ref>{{OED|solvitur ambulando}}</ref> is a [[Social:Latin|Latin]] phrase which means "it is solved by walking" and is used to refer to a problem which is solved by a practical [[Experiment|experiment]]. It is often attributed to Saint Augustine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/bs-xpm-2013-09-03-bal-solution-to-many-a-problem-take-a-walk-20130830-story.html|title=Solution to many a problem: Take a walk|first=Arianna|last=Huffington|website=baltimoresun.com}}</ref>

==Citations==
The argument is retold by Pushkin in his eight line poem "Motion" (1825).

The phrase appears early in [[Biography:Lewis Carroll|Lewis Carroll]]'s "[[What the Tortoise Said to Achilles]]", where Achilles uses it to accentuate that he was indeed successful in overtaking Tortoise in their race to empirically test one of [[Zeno's paradoxes|Zeno's paradoxes of motion]]. This passage also appears in [[Biography:Douglas Hofstadter|Douglas Hofstadter]]'s book ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' (1979).

In [[Biography:Dorothy L. Sayers|Dorothy L. Sayers]]'s ''Clouds of Witness'' (1926), during the Duke of Denver's trial before the House of Lords, the Lord High Steward suggests (to laughter) ''solvitur ambulando'' to determine whether the decedent crawled or was dragged to a different location, as this was a matter of dispute between the prosecution and the defense.

The phrase is also cited in ''The Songlines'' (1986) by Bruce Chatwin in its first meaning. Chatwin, who "passionately believed that walking constituted the sovereign remedy for every mental travail", learned it from Patrick Leigh Fermor and immediately wrote it down in his notebook.<ref>Cooper, Artemis, ''Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure'' (2012), p.373, {{ISBN|978-0-7195-5449-0}}.</ref>

The phrase is discussed multiple times and at some length in ''The Tao of Travel'' (2011) by Paul Theroux. It also appears in the writings of [[Biography:Aleister Crowley|Aleister Crowley]],<ref name="Crowley777">{{cite book|last1=Crowley|first1=Aleister|title=777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley : Including Gematria & Sepher Sephiroth|year=1973 |publisher=Samuel Weiser, 1977|location=York Beach, ME|isbn=0-87728-222-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/qabalahofaleiste00crow/page/42 42]}}</ref><ref name="CrowleyMagick">{{cite book|last1=Crowley|first1=Aleister|author-link = Aleister Crowley |last2=Desti|first2=Mary|last3=Waddell|first3=Leila|last4=[[Biography:William Breeze|Hymenaeus Beta]] (ed)|title = [[Unsolved:Magick (Book 4)|Magick: Liber ABA, Book Four, Parts I-IV]]| date = 1 January 1998| publisher = Red Wheel/Weiser| isbn = 978-0-87728-919-7|page=143}}</ref> and Oliver Sacks. It is the motto of the Royal Air Forces Escaping Society.

==See also==
* Argumentum ad lapidem
* Management by walking around
* Kisa Gotami

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
*{{Citation
  | last1 =  Hofstadter| first1 = Douglas R. 
  | title = [[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]
  | publisher = Basic Books
  | year = 1999
  | isbn = 0-465-02656-7
}}.

== External links ==
* [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/solvitur+ambulando Merriam-Webster Online]

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[[Category:Adages]]

{{Sourceattribution|Solvitur ambulando}}