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WATCH: Schopenhauer on being alone and how to deal with society: We’re all familiar with the archetype of the absent-minded professor. A recurring stock character in fiction, the absent-minded professor is the prototypical genius, great at what he does, but horrible at being a normal human being. The website TVTropes has a great write-up on the character, plus a huge database of examples of absent-minded professors in fiction. Thales of Miletus, considered by many to be the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, is said to have been so engrossed in philosophical thought while looking up at the stars, that he didn’t notice the well in front of him, and he promptly fell down into it.
