Our pal’s from the Philosophy Department at the University of Walamaloo would have us think that most of the great philosophers were drunks. Using the criteria “Who philosophizes the most?” and “Who can understand that crap?” I am led to believe that they were either drunk, high, or both. For instance, David Hume lacks the advantage of most of the others in that he wrote in English and has not benefitted from a translator attempting to make sense of what he said. I read it and say, “I am not NEARLY messed up enough for this to make sense!”
Therefore, I ask you wise people; were the great philosophers as drunk as they seem? Is it true that the Taoists consider drunkeness a blessed condition, opening the mind to new things?
Actually, it’s Wooloomooloo, which is an actual city in Australia (SW quadrant, I believe). Apparently, the Australians, like their English predecessors and contemporary counterparts, can’t bear either to pronounce anything the way it’s spelled, or spell anything the way they pronounce it.
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable.
Heideggar, Heideggar was a boozy beggar
Who could drink you under the table.
I remember that, but can’t for the life of me keep my son’s birthdate straight.
Drink Drink Drink
Drink until you’re drunk
Till your bladder bursts
Till you throw up, it’s a curse
Till they pick you up still comatose
And slam you in the hearse
[hijack] Woolloomooloo is an old, inner-city, waterfront suburb of Sydney (SE quadrant, I believe). T’aint a city of its own.
Pronounce Canberra, Melbourne, Canowindra, Prahan, Coogee, and Launceston correctly and you win ten points. I’d include Mt Kosciusko, but nobody here knows how to pronounce that either.
hmm… Arkansas… ::ScratchesAussieHead::
[/hijack]
“…So-crates himself is particu-lar-ly missed,
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa lovelylittlethinkerbutabuggerwhenhespissed!”
Yeah! I read about them once. Talking all night while playing the ancient Greek version of “Cardinal” (“Vestal Virgin?”) AND you had to stay awake AND not get obnoxious.
Nitpicker from Sydney here.
Wooloomooloo Hotel is a good place for a beer and a meal. Don’t make fun of the name unless you know some of the REALLY silly names in Australia.
Consider: “Wagga Wagga” pr “Bungwahl”, or the myriad of townships named “Coonabarabran”, “Coonawarra,” “Coonamble” and “Coonalpyn”.
We reserve the right to have silly names for towns. We’re generally a pretty silly place
You forgot Spion Kop, Come By Chance, The Vale of Ah, Tom Ugly’s Point, Puckapunyal, Sodwalls, Wangaratta, OBX Creek, Rum Jungle, Gooloogong, Terry Hie Hie, Poeppel’s Corner, Seventeen Eighty-Eight, Woy Woy, Eugowra, Putty, The Nut, Nobby’s Head, Groote Eylandt, Coober Pedy, and Lake Cadibarrawirracanna. Plenty more…
<grumblegrumblegrumble>
I ask a LEGITIMATE question and practically all I get are funny Strine town names, as if the Antipodes had a monopoly on funny names!
</grumblegrumblegrumble>
Do we now have all the lyrics to the lovely little ditty? If not, can someone attach them?
Actually, I sort o’ wonder about the OP. I reckon they (everyone who had two coins to rub togehter) used to drink a lot more than we do nowadays. Possibly more than Australians, even! But I do wonder if there are any stats or WAGs on alcohol consumption in pre-automobile, pre-TV, pre-clean-drinking-water days. For sure, alcohol was quite literally an everyday part of Descartes’ and Socrates’ lives. And they didn’t drink any Lite Beer back then.
So, yes, I do believe compared to a lot of us now, at any given moment Decartes and so on had a much higher Blood Alcohol Level. But on the other hand, they wouldn’t have been as intoxicated as we would if we tried to keep up with them drink-for-drink as they probably held their booze a lot better —from all the practice they got.
Effect on philosophizing? A little more relaxed and slower pace probably lends itself better to reflection.
Immanual Kant was a real pissant Who was very rarely stable.
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar, Who could think you under the table. David Hume could out consume Schopenhauer and Hegel. And, Wittgenstein was a beery swine Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel
There’s nothing Nietzche couldn’t teach ya
‘Bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill. Plato they say, could stick it away Half a crate of whiskey every day.
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
Hobbes was fond of his dram
And Rene’ Descartes was a drunken fart “I drink, therefore I am”
Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker
But a bugger when he’s pissed
I have nothing useful to contribute here, just all the lyrics. Carry on.
Until the 20th century, alcohol was pretty much the only thing you could drink and not catch some sort of parasite or bacterial infection. As a result, watered down wine was the standard, especially for the Greeks.
Additionally, many of the substances that we know to be narcotics today were thought to be medicinal in earlier times. Opium was very popular in the time of Hume and Descartes. I have a personal theory that most religious experiences can be traced to hallucinogenic substances.
Consider also: Scientists have found a correlation between medieval werewolf reports and climate changes. The theory is that certain weather conditions forced people to eat more rye bread (rye is a heartier grain). Rye often harbours a fungus called ergot, which is poisonous in large doses and hallucinogenic in small doses. Anyone who has ever read about the mystics (eg. Mechtild of Magdeburg) won’t be surprised to hear that drugs were involved. These are the folks who sealed themselves in chambers so small they were forced to kneel, and stayed there for years in order to have religious visions.
Anyway, I hope there aren’t too many devoted Catholics out there.
[hijack] Speaking of ergot, this is a central theory in a marvelous children’s novel by Gloria Skurzynski, What Happened in Hamlin. If you don’t think children’s literature is “beneath” you, give this book a look-see.[/hijack]
