system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Philosophers who were the "village idiot"?

So while being rather different in their philosophies, I've always seen a similarity between Diogenes and Thoreau in that they were the "village eccentric" in a way, living within a community that seemed both amused and bewildered by their behavior. I've always found this rather funny, and a refreshing change from the idea of a philosopher who lives tucked away in the confines of academia or surrounded by intellectuals. Are there any other philosophers who lived very much among the "common man", in a more traditional community setting?
gpt
Ludwig Wittgenstein, who came from one of the wealthiest famillies in Europe at the time, left academia several times. In between leaving to serve as an officer in WWI and a hospital porter in WWII, he spent some time as a school teacher in villages in rural Austria. Wittgenstein was pretty eccentric in general but probably stood out even more so among the villagers. He was also very demanding and strict on his students, using violence on them if they failed to answer questions correctly. From the Wikipedia:

> To the less able, it seems that he became something of a tyrant. The first two hours of each day were devoted to mathematics, hours that Monk writes some of the pupils recalled years later with horror. They reported that he caned the boys and boxed their ears, and also that he pulled the girls' hair; this was not unusual at the time for boys, but for the villagers he went too far in doing it to the girls too; girls were not expected to understand algebra, much less have their ears boxed over it. The violence apart, Monk writes that he quickly became a village legend, shouting "Krautsalat!" ("coleslaw" – i.e. shredded cabbage) when the headmaster played the piano, and "Nonsense!" when a priest was answering children's questions.

Some years later, in another Austrian town, a 11-year-old schoolboy collapse after Wittgenstein hit him on the head a few times (called the Haidbauer incident). Wittgenstein resigned and never taught again. It's speculated that Wittgenstein's family and wealth helped to cover up the incident.