top | item 46755278

Immanuel 'the Königsberg clock' Kant (2015)

36 points| rishabhd | 1 month ago |versobooks.com

8 comments

order

libraryofbabel|1 month ago

> Having been born in Königsberg in 1724, he never left the small German city, dying there in 1804 aged 79 never having once gone further than the city’s limits.

Totally false! Slander! He once went as far as the village of Jarnołtowo, a whole 60 miles from Königsberg![0]

But yeah. Maybe not one of history’s greatest travelers.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarno%C5%82towo

HWR_14|1 month ago

He made plans for a trip to Paris to read a specific book, but the librarians he had been corresponding with mailed it to him as a sign of respect for his time.

inasio|1 month ago

Reminds me of Emilio Salgari (late 19th century, Italy's Jules Verne), one of my favorite authors growing up. He has many books on Malaysian pirates, Wild west cowboys (he's apparently considered the grandfather of the spaghetti western), adventures in India, etc. Always thought he must have been an adventurer, or at least a sailor. He never left Verona.

pseudohadamard|1 month ago

This persistent until quite recently. My neighbour told me his mother never travelled more than 15km from the town where she was born. Apart from a pilgrimage to Lourdes my grandmother would have been about the same.

svat|1 month ago

> We should note – without seeing it as physiologically symbolic of their respective philosophies – that Kant was constipated, while Nietzsche suffered from compulsive vomiting.

To the contrary, I'm pretty sure it is more than symbolic. Surely it matches their temperament (respectively) and thereby their philosophies.

routmac|1 month ago

Not so regular after all eh?