The unexpected lives of famous philosophers
Learn some colorful and disturbing facts about philosophers such as Socrates and Martin Heidegger.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Did St. Patrick really bring Christianity to Ireland?
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Media Editor: Lee Goldstein
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about the significance and history of the Muslim festival Eid al-Fitr.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Philosopher and educator Mortimer J. Adler discussing Socrates as a man, a teacher, and a philosopher, with reenactments by Tony Van Bridge (as Socrates) and others. This video is a 1962 production of Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.This is the philosopher who said “God is dead.”Media Editor: Lauren Sims
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.According to this philosopher, “Man is condemned to be free.”Media Editor: Lauren Sims
Transcript
Do philosophers lead dull lives? Their heads in the clouds, their posteriors in armchairs?
Don’t bet on it. Did you know that Socrates, just by talking, corrupted the youth of Athens and subverted the city’s democracy…
…at least according to the jury that sentenced him to death by poisoning? He willingly drank the hemlock.
Martin Heidegger was an enthusiastic Nazi and supported the dismissal of Jewish faculty from German universities.
A.J. Ayer, an Oxford don and TV personality, faced down Mike Tyson at a dinner party, preventing him from sexually assaulting Naomi Campbell.
Hypatia, the greatest mathematician and astronomer of the Greco-Roman world, was stripped, beaten, skinned, dragged, and finally burned by a Christian mob.
Lots of other philosophers led lives just as interesting or odd. Don’t let the stereotype fool you.
Don’t bet on it. Did you know that Socrates, just by talking, corrupted the youth of Athens and subverted the city’s democracy…
…at least according to the jury that sentenced him to death by poisoning? He willingly drank the hemlock.
Martin Heidegger was an enthusiastic Nazi and supported the dismissal of Jewish faculty from German universities.
A.J. Ayer, an Oxford don and TV personality, faced down Mike Tyson at a dinner party, preventing him from sexually assaulting Naomi Campbell.
Hypatia, the greatest mathematician and astronomer of the Greco-Roman world, was stripped, beaten, skinned, dragged, and finally burned by a Christian mob.
Lots of other philosophers led lives just as interesting or odd. Don’t let the stereotype fool you.