A recent New York Times (16 May 2010) opinion(ator) piece by English philosopher Simon Critchley of The New School suggests that philosophers are indeed curious creatures of academe. Critchley grazes lovingly over the curious assortment of philosophers such as Thales who fell into a hole whilst gazing at the stars, the gadfly Socrates who reportedly had a face only a mother could love, the philosopher as buffoon or eccentric, as one one who spends years returning to the same topic or moves in and around a topic based on fascination, curiosity or perplexity. These characters and more are set out in this reassessment of an ancient art - the first in a series of writings by contemporary philosophers to be published by The New York Times.
A highly amusing piece, as is Critchley's The Book of Dead Philosophers. Find the rest of the series at The Stone.
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