7 Famous Philosophers and Their Strange Obsessions
You know that saying goes crazy, everyone has a little ?! So perhaps it is the best explanation for the weird obsessions that some of the greatest philosophers have cultivated throughout their lives.
The strange habit of doing the same things every day, the unhealthy addiction to drinking large quantities of coffee, and the passion for poodle dogs were some of the compulsions that marked the lives of personalities like Kant, Voltaire, and Schopenhauer.
Be sure to check out this selection of bizarre crazes made by the List Verse site and have some fun with some great thinkers of the last centuries.
1) Rene Descartes and the taste for strabic women
René Descartes' (1596 - 1650) preference for women with a special character was discovered from the letters he exchanged with Queen Cristina of Sweden. Although never married, Descartes revealed in his correspondence that his great love was a strabic woman.
After reflecting on his taste for women with such a vision problem, the philosopher remembered that he was in love with a strabic girl during his youth. Then he wrote, "For a long time later, when I saw a strabic woman, I was more inclined to fall in love with her than with others simply because of that defect."
2) Albert Camus and the fear of dying young
After a difficult childhood, Albert Camus (1913 - 1960) found himself facing severe tuberculosis that eventually drove him away from school until he could recover. After a year, the young philosopher and writer came around, managed to overcome the disease and resume his studies. Even so, the fear of premature death has accompanied Camus throughout his life.
Before long, the philosopher developed an obsession with everything related to death. For this reason, he carried a suicide letter in his pocket written by a friend of Trotsky and asked a friend who lived in the United States to send him the editions of Embalmer's Monthly (a magazine for embalmers). In the end, perhaps Camus's paranoia was not for nothing - he died in a car accident when he was 46, which we can consider young since he could have lived many more years.
3) Immanuel Kant and the obsession with routine
Imannuel Kant (1724 - 1804) made obsession a lifestyle. In addition to being touted as a famous hypochondriac, the philosopher was also famous for following an impeccable routine. That's right! From 1783, when he bought a house, until 1804, the year of his death, Kant always did the same things at the same times every day.
He would wake up before 5 am, drink tea and smoke his pipe. Then I would write until 7am, give classes until 11am and then write again until 1pm. From that time on, Kant had lunch and walked in the center of Konigsberg. The regularity was such that the neighbors said they adjusted their watches from the philosopher. Kant's routine was so remarkable that the street he passed was known as "The Philosopher's Walk."
4) Friedrich Nietzsche and the preference for fruits
One of the most respected philosophers of his time, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) suffered from various health problems. In an attempt to relieve his terrible headaches, end persistent vomiting, and improve his painful digestion, the thinker used a number of medications and tried different diets.
The only thing he wouldn't give up was the fruit, which doctors suspected was the cause of his digestive discomfort. The problem was not the kind of food Nietzsche took, but the impressive amount of fruit he ate. In addition to buying fruit at local fairs, it is known that the philosopher received baskets full of friends who were in other countries. After breakfasting with a steak, the philosopher sometimes consumed almost three pounds of fruit in a single day.
5) Voltaire and the habit of drinking coffee
One of the leading names of the Enlightenment, Voltaire (1694 - 1778) was completely fascinated by coffee. Fully ignoring the medical recommendations he received, the philosopher consumed absurd amounts of caffeine.
At home or with friends in one of Paris's cafes, Voltaire is known to drink 20-40 cups of coffee every day. The taste for the drink was so great that the philosopher regularly paid very high fees to import luxury grain to taste.
6) Jean-Paul Sartre and crustacean aversion
Behind his great intellectual potential, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980) hid a weakness: crustaceans. As a child, the philosopher was afraid of a painting showing a paw coming out of the ocean and trying to catch a person. Since then, Sartre has developed an aversion to crustaceans and other sea beings.
His fear was so great that he had a panic attack once upon entering the water with Simone de Beauvoir. He imagined that a giant octopus would rise from the depths and drag it to death. Another time, after consuming a hallucinogen, Sartre had visions of lobsters chasing after him wherever he went.
7) Arthur Schopenhauer and the love for poodles
Some remarkable events in Schopenhauer's life (1788 - 1860) caused the young philosopher to have difficulty relating to people and develop a somewhat pessimistic personality, and this led the thinker to fill this void with pets.
Schopenhauer chose the poodles as his companions, and the dog obsession began in childhood and accompanied him to his death. In this way, the philosopher collected poodles that, curiously, always had the same name. "Atma" is a Hindu word meaning "inner self" or "transcendental soul" and was the name chosen for dogs, as the philosopher believed that all those animals expressed the greatness of one being.
* Originally posted on 11/03/2014.
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