Think carefully if you are considering heading to this corner of Wiltshire – the market town that gave us philosopher Thomas Hobbes is aiming to become Britain's capital of thought

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Hay-on-Wye has its bookshops and literary festival while Aldeburgh has become synonymous with classical music, and St Ives with fine art. Now the quiet Wiltshire market town of Malmesbury is hoping to capitalise on an increasing interest in thinking and become known as the UK's first "philosophy town".

Organisers hope to build on a successful festival celebrating the life and work of the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who was from the area. The third annual Hobbes festival concluded yesterday after two days of events in the town.

Planned "philosophy town" events include a festival of history, ideas and philosophy and an all-night examination of enlightenment.

Also planned is a long-distance walk from Oxford through Malmesbury and on to Wrington in Somerset, birthplace of John Locke, another 17th-century philosophical colossus.

The town's philosophy champions hope to transform a building into an "ideas place", containing bookshops and a coffee house.

Other proposals include dramatising classical philosophical texts and installing a trail of busts of great philosophers around the town.

Philosopher Angie Hobbs believes the time is right for a "philosophy" town.

"I think people are hungry for this stuff," she said. "We've got ourselves in such as mess in the world – the environment, the banking crisis, the whole issue of fairness.

"Philosophy may be able to help a bit. We don't have all the answers but we can help the debate."

Hobbs (whose family may have connections to Thomas Hobbes) has been appointed a town philosopher. The role is yet to be clearly defined and she says the wage is "a glass of white wine".

But she is excited at the prospect of non-academics getting stuck into philosophy. "You don't have to want to be a professional philosopher," she said. "You don't have to be able to wrestle with the knottier passages of [Immanuel] Kant to be able to get a huge amount out of the subject.

"It's OK to dabble. Don't be scared. There are a lot of people thinking we really need this because we've got into such a mess not using human reason to its full potential."

Michael Cuthbert, head of the philosophy town project, believes that radio programmes such as Radio 4's In Our Time and Moral Maze, and the rise in popularity of the work of thinkers such as Alain de Botton, showed the time was ripe for a philosophy destination.

"People are more loose in their loyalties and more questioning. They want to grapple with big ideas," he said.

He enthuses about initiatives such as the walking route – professional philosophers will walk alongside participants or meet them in the pub for a debate at the end of the day.

"There's a link between philosophy and walking – from the professor pacing up and down to the great pilgrimages."

Finn Spicer, a Malmesbury resident and part of Bristol University's philosophy department, agreed there was a growing hunger for philosophy.

"And why shouldn't Malmesbury be a centre for that?" he said. Spicer believes it is a thoughtful kind of town where people care about ideas.

"In cafes you do overhear conversations about serious matters and want to chip in."

Fortifying himself with a pint of Pigswill ale in the Whole Hog pub before heading off for a Hobbes lecture was business consultant Jon Gundry.

"You don't have to be a full-time philosopher to like hearing ideas and experiencing argument," he said.

Catherine Doody, the Malmesbury councillor who holds the tourism brief, said: "It would be amazing if we could become another St Ives or Stratford. This is a vibrant community interested in what happening here and elsewhere."

Did she have any personal philosophical thoughts? "You live the best way you can and look after others and enjoy life."