Daniel Tammet (born January 31, 1979) – U.K. savant, memoirist – Embracing the Wide Sky 2007
Read about Daniel Tammet here and here
Visit Daniel Tammet's website DanielTammet.net
Watch Brain Man, a documentary made in 2005
about Daniel Tammet and other savants
Arnold Geulincx (born January 31, 1624) – Dutch philosopher – Ethica
Read the Wikipedia entry for Arnold Geulincx here
Read a brief summary of the philosophy of Arnold Geulincx here
"Geulincx principally deals with the question, left in an obscure and unsatisfactory state by Descartes, of the relation between soul and body. Whereas Descartes made the union between them a violent collocation, Geulincx practically called it a miracle. The inspiration for Geulincx’s attempt to complete Descartes’s system came primarily from the writings of St. Augustine."
(Read the article in The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences ..., Volumes 11-12)
"The love of right reason is the supreme virtue, whence flow the cardinal virtues, diligence, obedience, justice and humility. Since it is impossible for us to make any alteration in the world of matter, all we can do is to submit. Chief of the cardinal virtues is humility, a confession of our own helplessness and submission to God. Geulincx's idea of life is 'a resigned optimism'. "
Kenzaburō Ōe (born January 31,1935) – Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist – A Personal Matter (1964) Nobel prize winner in literature, 1994
Watch an interview with Oe done at University of California, Berkeley...
