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Book Details How Famous Philosophers Died

Contemporary philosopher Simon Critchley describes how 190 of history's most famous philosophers died. Here are some of the most fascinating details:

  • Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, died by holding his breath.
  • Leibniz, discredited as an atheist, died alone and was buried at night with only one friend in attendance.
  • Thomas Hobbes, who wrote that "life is nasty, brutish, and short," died peacefully in bed at 91.
  • Berkley died while his wife read him a sermon.
  • The atheist La Mettrie died of indigestion caused by eating a huge amount of truffle pate.
  • Diderot ate an apricot, choked, and died.
  • Rousseau died of cerebral bleeding, probably caused by a collision with a Great Dane.
  • Hegel died in a cholera epidemic. His last words were: "Only one man understood me … and he didn't understand me" (presumably referring to himself).
  • Roland Barthes was hit by a dry cleaning van.
  • Jean-Paul Sartre seemed to have a change of heart: prior to his death, this long-time atheist said, "I do not feel that I am the product of chance …. [but] a being whom only a Creator could put here." He died in 1980 after years of alcohol and drug abuse.
  • Albert Camus once said that he couldn't imagine a death more meaningless than dying in a car accident. In 1960, at the age of 47, Camus died in a car accident.
  • A. J. Ayer, a resolute atheist, choked on a piece of salmon, and technically died. Later he said that this near-death experience provided "strong evidence that death does not end consciousness." His wife reported, "Freddie has got so much nicer since he died." Ayer died for good a year later.

Despite the variety of ways to die, Critchley uses a quote from Epicurus to highlight the certainty of death: "Against all other things it is possible to obtain security, but when it comes to death we human beings live in an unwalled city."

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