Two Smart Philosphers in History

There are some people who think that philosophers are people who talk about things that the ordinary guy in the street finds hard to understand. In fact that is not very wrong; but philosophy is no just about things that are difficult to understand. It is about being smart. Philosophers are very smart people. That is why we find it difficult o understand them. Thales and Voltaire are two philosophers that I consider very smart.

Thales

Thales was the first person who started the thing called philosophy. He lived in one ancient Greek city called Miletus several years BC. He was the first person who tried a rational explanation to the origin of the world. He thought that the world and everything in it came out of water. To him this is how it happened. Water got more and more thick and became ice; ice became soil which became stones and from there all other things.

His smartness

When Thales was showing his excitement about the philosophy thing at that time, people were laughing at him and calling him a lazy lousy guy. He was not a rich guy. So they wondered what the benefits of philosophy could be. He therefore decided to show them how philosophy could be useful.

People in his area were wine producers. Production was seasonal at that time. During the main season, winepresses were in demand and people rented them at high cost. But winepresses cost almost nothing when the season was over.

Once off season, Thales went round renting all winepresses in town. He seemed funny because no one rented winepresses during off season. He got them almost for a song for a period that will cover the coming season.

When the season came, people went as usual to rent winepresses. But they discovered that they were all for Thales. He then sublet them to them at normal price. He did that for one reason: make people see the usefulness of philosophy. He did not repeat it again. From that time people started showing some respect to philosophy.

By that Thales did not only show that he is the first of all philosophers, but the smartest of all.

Voltaire

This was one controversial French philosopher who lived during the Age of Enlightenment. He was not like by many because his life was almost non conformist. He criticized the kings of his time which gave him a lot of political trouble.

His smartness

Due to his troubles with the kings of France and Switzerland, he bought a large property across the French and Swiss border. When Voltaire had problems with the French king, he would jus move to the Swiss side of his property and live in peace. There was not Interpol at that time so the French have no business going to arrest him in Switzerland. He would stay there until he gets a problem with the Swiss king. By then the French king would have gotten over his trouble. Then he would move to the French side and become an ally of the French king.